Hope
by chester-roxs
Summary: She could only hope that the plane doesn't crash. Hope that she would get a friendly and caring host family. And hope that no one in either of her families will die. This is the life of Hinata Hyuga, an 18-year foreign exchange student. *DISCONTINUED*
1. Prelude

Hope

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto

Hey guys! I just want to say that I decided to write this fanfiction in honor for Leen, my exchange student who just left. I had a lot of really good times with her so now I'm going to try and write a fic about Hinata and her becoming a foreign exchange student. Well, I hope you like it!

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Prelude

"Come on Hinata, all you have to do is slam the door open, walk up to him and make sure you size him up. Then in a loud clear voice, declare that you want to sign up for the foreign exchange program. He will look you in the eyes and nod his head once while saying, 'I think that's a wonderful idea Hinata. Go ahead and sign up.' That's all to it," I mutter to myself. Taking a deep breath, I began with my plan. I walk up to the door, ready to slam it open. My hand reaches up towards the big wooden door, and last second, I chicken out and knock gently instead. _"Stupid! You are suppose to slam the door open! Not 'gently' knock!" _I think to myself.

"Come in," he said in a demanding voice from behind the door. Taking a deep breath, I feel my hands shake slightly. _"Come on! You can do it!"_ I encourage to myself. As my hand holds the cold golden doorknob, I turn it to the left and push the door lightly forward. I crane my neck slightly to see my father sitting behind his desk. He is wearing black dress pants and a dark green button up long sleeve shirt. I notice how he was making no movement what so ever besides the flicker of his wrist as he writes on one of the many papers on his big black desk.

I slowly walk in, closing the door softly behind me to not disturb him. Not wanting to look at him, I look around the room. There are bookshelves on two walls facing vertically from each other, all the books neatly put in place. The ceiling and walls are both a dull white color. Behind my father, there is a large window with its white shades closed. "What do you want?" my father asks all of a sudden. I flinch at how harsh the words sound. _"Okay! Now try to size him up, then speak loud and clear and tell him what I want!" _If only it is as easy as the voice inside my head said it would be. "Um, I was ah wondering if um I could um take part in the um foreign exchange program?" I mumble. _"I'm hopeless…"_ I think sadly to myself.

"If you are only here to stand there and mumble on about something, I would like you to leave. I have a lot of paper work to do," my father stated. I take a deep breath, and then announce quickly, "With your permission, I would like to take part in the foreign exchange program." Not being able to bare to look in his eyes, I stare at the gray carpet.

"Hinata, why should I agree to let you become a foreign exchange student?" he then asks. I dare to look him in the eyes. As always, his face was serious. Gulping, I answer, "Because…because I think that going to a different country will be a good experience for me. I would be able to understand the life style of another person. Also, it would improve my communication skills greatly. Not only that, but I could learn about how other businesses, besides my family's, work."

There was a long silence. The whole time I was temped to look down at the floor, but I resisted that urge. I still am. Then my father nod his head once, and concluded, "Very well, you may become come a foreign exchange student, only on one condition." I think my heart stopped at that moment. But my father continued on, "That you go to America. How long do you want to live there?" My heart came back to life then. "I was um thinking probably a year," I said uncertain. "A year it is then. You will get the paper work done and I will pay for it all. Dismissed," he ordered.

I bow then walk out of the room with a smile on my face. I was finally going to become a foreign exchange student.

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I know it's short, but hey it's the prelude. R&R to tell me what you think about it and no flames please.


	2. My Part of The Deal

Hope

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto.

Hey guys! I decided to post the first chapter shortly after the prelude. I'm not suppose to be writing another story till I finish the Twilight one I am writing with my friend because she is doing a lot more than me. :D But I had this urge to write this so hopefully you can forgive me Cassidy! Hope you enjoy the chapter! And sorry for any grammar or spelling mistakes; I still need to improve on that :D.

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Chapter 1 My Part of the Deal

A loud groan filled the Hyuga house, seeming to echo off of the walls. The source of the groan; me. But who wouldn't groan after filling out all of this paper work? _"My father,"_ I think immediately. I massage my hand for not the first time this day, and sadly not the last. _"Why did my Language teacher have to give me this much paper?" _I complain. Looking at the papers scattered around my bed, which has dark purple sheets and pure white pillows. _"About two-thirds are done. I think I deserve a break,"_ I convince myself.

I turn on my silver CD player, and switch it to the radio. I plop down on my bed, as the song Bottle It Up by Sara Bareilles fills my ears. Staring up at my lavender ceiling, I count how many glow in the dark stars are up there. The song ends and I count twenty stars. Sitting up with my back against the wall, I look around my room. The wall and ceilings are lavender, while the carpet is a soft purple color. A blue fuzzy chair sits in the far left corner, next to it a small bookshelf.

My large blue bulletin hangs on the wall opposite of me, pictures of my friends, family, and I scattered on it. A wooden desk is placed below it, a black laptop on it along with papers and a white lamp. The wooden door to my left leads to the hallway, while the one to my right is my closet. On that door, a body size mirror is glued on. A window that is open is placed right next to my headrest, the white curtains flowing in the cool breeze coming in from outside. I grab a tan bunny that is the size of a folder and has long ears form a large wooden chest at the end of my bed.

I cuddle the stuff animal against my chest. It is probably the most precious item I own. My mom gave it too me for my seventh birthday, and she died a couple of months after that from cancer. It was a very sad time for my family. Since then, I've never seen my father smile. Hanabi, my younger sister didn't really get what was going on since she was only two years old. But Neji, my cousin, and I understood clearly; she was dead and would never come back again. Neji had faced something like this before; his father died two years before my mother died.

But I quickly dismiss these thoughts. Now is a time I should be happy for the future. Not grieving for the past. Thinking I should get back to work, I grab my pen and the papers. But I am interrupted by the sound of someone knocking on my door. I quickly check to see what I am wearing; baggy gray sweat pants and shirt that says 'come to the dark side, we have cookies' with a monster smiling and holding chocolate chip cookies. My elbow length black hair covers my left lavender eye and I softly say, "Come in."

Swiftly the door opened to reveal someone who looks a lot like me, only has shoulder length hair instead. My eyes widen with surprise. I put the bunny on my pillow. "Hello Hanabi. Can I help you with something?" I ask kindly. She is wearing long black shorts and a white soccer camp T-shirt. I noticed that she was blushing a bit. _"Odd…Hanabi doesn't usually blush." _

"Well, I was wondering why did you go in father's office? Were you in trouble?" There is worry and curiosity in her voice. She leans against the doorframe with her arms crossed. I smile up at her, and then reply, "No, I just needed to…ask him something." Her face changes from worry to confusion. "What did you ask him?" she asks eager to know. My smile only seems to widen; she was so innocent at times. _"When she's not pulling pranks on teachers and students, mostly boys though."_

"I wanted to become a foreign exchange student and father said yes," I confess to her. Shock took place across her face. "Wow! When are you leaving? What country are you going to stay at? How did you convince father?" she questions. "I'm leaving in August if I can get my papers in. I'm going to America, which was father's only requirement besides filling all these papers out. I'm not sure how I convinced him though…" I drag on.

Relief fills her face. "It's April so you'll still be here for about five months…" she stated. I shifted my weight so I was sitting crossed legged. "Yep. So, is that all you wanted?" I ask politely. Hanabi hesitates, and then blushes like before.

I raise an eyebrow at this, but do not question. She takes a deep breath before confessing, "Um, I was wondering if you could give me some…advise to get a ah boy's attention." By now, her whole face was beet red. I slap my hand over my mouth as I giggle uncontrollably. This was **not **what I had expected. "It's not funny!" she shouts clenching her fists. Seeing this, I immediately stop laughing. "I'm sorry. It's just that **that** was the last thing I thought would come out of your mouth," I explain to her.

She grins at me, and then answers, "Yeah, I guess you're right." We both laugh. "Okay, now close the door and tell me who the lucky guy is," I command. Sighing, Hanabi did as she was told. After closing the door, while blushing she murmurs, "Konohamaru." Now I wasn't able to stop laughing. _"Who would have thought? She likes the boy who's her biggest rival."_ I look at the thirteen-year-old girl in front of me.

"Well, I'm not a total expert at this…but considering your opinions I am probably the best," I conclude. We both thought about what father or Neji would have done and giggle. Father would have said she is too young to have a boyfriend, yet let alone think about having one. Neji on the other hand would ask who he is and then probably threaten him to go out with Hanabi and if he would break her heart, Neji would snap his in half in return.

"So what should I do?" Hanabi asks when our laughs have died down. I put my head in my hand, a common trait I do when I'm thinking hard. "Well, we could start off by seeing if he likes you by you ignoring him. But don't ignore him entirely, because he might think you're just doing that to annoy him since you two have a history of rivalry," I state.

Hanabi nods her head once. "So I don't have to wear revealing clothes?" she asks confused. I stare at her a bit shock. "Only if you want to. And if you do, do it in parts and not at one time. For example, wear shorter shorts but still wear baggy T-shirts. Whatever you do, just make sure you are still comfortable in what you're wearing," I conclude.

She smiles at me. "Thanks sis. Your advice is a whole lot better than Aimi. She's my best friend and all, but she has no clue when it comes to boys like me," Hanabi comments. "No problem," I add in.

"Hey, do you need any help with all this paper work?" she asks. I was about to deny her, but then I look at the pills of paper and chirp a 'yes'. With that, we got to work. The paper work lasted for another thirty minutes before we finally finished. "Uh! My hand hurts!" Hanabi grumbles. "You're not the only one," I reply. We are sitting next to each other now, smiling. _"It's been a while since we just hung out together."_

The radio, which was on the whole time, plays the song Shake It by Metro Station. _"I love this song!" _I think to myself. I quickly jump to my feet, dragging Hanabi along with me and turn up the volume. "Come on! Dance with me!" I say while giggling. Hanabi stares at me like I grew a second head. "Why can't you be a normal girl for once?" I complain with fake disappointment. She sighs loudly, giving a groan, then starts to shake to the music with me.

We did all the dance moves we could think of; the monkey, twist, disco, but mostly twirling around. But of course, when the chorus would say shake repeatedly, we would just shake. Always giggling. Though every good thing comes to an end, ours was ending too early for us. The door opens to reveal a shock Neji. He came right in when both of us are attempting to do a shimmy. We both stop embarrass to be caught.

Neji makes the first move by pinching the bridge of his nose. He usually does this whenever he is annoyed or frustrated. "So this is what you girls were doing?" he states, removing his hand from his nose and crosses his arms. "I was giving Hanabi dance lessons. Didn't you like our dancing?" I mumbled innocently. He glares at me, but that softens into a smile, followed with a sigh. "What am I going to do with you two? What grade are you girls in again?" he asks. "Junior," I notify him with a small smile. He turns his gaze to Hanabi. "8th grade. But it's not fair; whenever I hint to father that I would like to be a foreign exchange student he says no, yet Hinata asked once and he said yes!" Hanabi pouted.

I sigh. "What!? Since when are you going to be a foreign exchange student?!" Neji yells. "I've been wanting to ask father for a while, and today I finally had the courage to ask him and he said yes. I'll be leaving in for America in August. So I was stuck doing the paper work and father will pay for it," I ramble on. "I see. I have to say I'm shocked. I planned to just come up here and tell you dinner is ready; not seeing you two dancing and then telling me that Hinata here is going to be a foreign exchange student," Neji confesses, but as soon as he said dinner, Hanabi raced out the door and down the stairs.

We both sigh. I turn off the radio and follow my cousin to the dinning room.

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Finally finished! I hope you all enjoy this chapter. Incase you haven't caught on, Hanabi is 13, Hinata is 18, and Neji is 19. Gaara will come in later for the fic I will tell you now. Well, R&R please!


	3. See You Later Alligator

Hope

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto.

I would like to thank Blue-Heart08 and afinalchaotic who reviewed! Thanks so much! To warn you, there has been a time skip (but you will figure that out soon). Instead of making Hinata stutter at every thing she says, I'm just going to have her be shy and quiet when she talks. I'm very sorry for any spelling or grammar mistakes. Well, onto the story!

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Ch. 2 See You Later Alligator

"Hinata! Come on! Your so slow sometimes," Tenten babbles to me. I sigh. _"Just because I'm leaving in two days she needs to spend time with me 24/7."_ I think, slightly touched at how much my 19-year-old best friend loves me. I look over my best friend. She is wearing a forest green that says, 'Wanna Know How to Keep an Idiot Occupied? (read back of shirt)' in white letters and the back saying the same thing except it said (read front of shirt) instead, along with brown shorts. Her chocolate brown hair is put up in two buns. "Let's go into this store!" Tenten announces.

I look up to see a sign that reads 'Hot Topic'. I shrug, even though the store looks a bit intimating to me. "Do we really have to be in here?" I ask her shyly. Tenten looks at me like I grew a second head then exclaims, "Of course! I want to have new clothes for the first day of college!" "The same college that Neji's going to," I mutter to myself, knowing all to well of the 'crush' my best friend has over him.

"Huh? Did you say something?" Tenten asks. I nervously wave my hands in front of me. "Um… just that this t-shirt would look good on you!" I quickly commented. We both look at the T-shirt I'm pointing at; white that has a T.V. on it that is saying 'stop staring at me!' "I love it! You have a good eye Hinata…" she trails off while grabbing the shirt and then went to pay for it.

Standing awkwardly by the entrance, Tenten finally emerges from the store. "Alright! That's enough shopping for me. What about you Hinata? Do you need any more new clothes? After all, you're going to **America**," she says stretching out the last word. I grin sheepishly at her. "I'm fine. Do you want to get a smoothie though?" I ask quietly. Tenten grins then adds, "Don't forget about the giant cookies!" We giggle while making our way to the Susie's Smoothies shop, Cookie Cutters our next destination after that. _"Just like we do every time we go to the mall."_

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I sigh as I flop down on my bed, my two shopping bags next to me. Rummaging through the bag, I pull out what I bought just an hour ago. Lavender scent shampoo and conditioner, 10 blue hair ties, a medium size brown and white backpack, and a book called The Host. **(A/N it's a very good book. I've read it five times over and it's by Stephanie Meyer too) **I get up with a groan and put the book into the backpack, which I was going to carry with me on the plane, and put the rest of the stuff into my navy suitcase.

I attempt to close the suitcase, but I fail miserably. The zipper just won't budge. Not giving up yet I stand on my bed then plop my butt down on the suitcase, swiftly closing it. I give myself a mental pat on the back and a victory smile. My eyes wander around my room, lingering at my laptop. _"It's been five days…I should check to see if they have emailed back." _With that final thought I sat down in my chair and flipped my laptop open while turning it on.

I waited for about a minute before I can see a picture of my two best guy friends, Shino and Kiba along with me. Kiba and I were sitting next to each other in a tree on a branch that was probably only six feet off the ground. Then Shino was sitting in between us on a different branch that was only a foot lower than ours. Kiba was grinning madly, Shino barely smirking, and I was giving a shy smile.

I remember clearly when this photo was taken. Three years ago Tenten took a photography class and had a 'humongous project' as Tenten said to do. The students in her class had to pick out of a hat to see what they had to do their project on and the teacher said he would give a prize to the first, second, and third place winners. It just so happened Tenten picked trees. So she phoned us up and we all agreed to help her out. In the end, she ended up with second place, winning a ten-dollar gift certificate for ice cream. She invited us along with Neji to come along for ice cream. So that day ended with us piggy out on ice cream.

I smile at the memory as I click on the Internet. It pops up, showing my homepage, Yahoo. I click on mail and type in my username and password then press enter. Scrolling down, I notice that I have one unread email. Clicking on it, I see it's from my host family.

_**Hey Hinata,**_

_**I can't wait to meet you too! It's my family's first time having a foreign exchange student so we can both learn from each other. As you know, there are only three of us; both of the boys are my younger brothers. One's in college (age 20, his name is Kankuro) while the other is in your grade (age 18, his name is Gaara). I'll make sure that he shows you around the school, even if I have to force him… He isn't that social, but this Neji guy sounds kind of like him so you should be use to guys like that. Just to make sure; your plane leaves at 8:00 AM on August 14 right? Well I have to go to work now, so I'll hopefully talk to you soon or see you at the airport if we can't.**_

_**-Temari**_

I read the message two times before replying, an old habit of mine.

_**Hello Temari,**_

_**Just reading these emails from you makes me feel like we already know each other. Please don't force Gaara to do anything he doesn't want to do; I don't want to be a burden to him. Though it makes me feel better knowing what I will be expecting out of him if he really is like my cousin. Yes, the plane information is correct, unless if there will be a delay. Well I guess I will see you at the airport soon!**_

_**Yours truly,**_

_**Hinata **_

I quickly proofread the short message before clicking 'send' and turning off the computer.

Standing up, I stretch my arms out before going through my bags to make sure I have everything. _"That should be everything…now all I have to do really is say goodbye to all my friends,"_ I think to myself. A frown slowly appears on my face. I only allow one tear to escape before snapping my eyes shut. _"I should save the crying for later."_ Walking towards my desk, I open the first drawer to my left and take out my blue Motorola Rizr Z3.

I punch in Kiba's number quickly, and then put the phone to my ear. _Ring…Ring…Ring…Hello? _**Hey Kiba, it's me Hinata.** _Hey Hinata! What's up?_ **I was wondering if um you would want to go somewhere together since this is probably going to be the last chance I have to spend time with you and Shino.** _That's right! You're leaving in two days! Yeah sure! Where are we going? _**I haven't talked to Shino yet so I don't know…** _Hey how about I call him and then meet up with you at your house? That sound good? _**Sounds great! I'll see you soon Kiba**. _Yeah, see yah!_

I turn off my phone, and then dash down the stairs, waiting for my two best guy friends to arrive.

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"Bye Shino! Bye Kiba!" I shout to them with a smile. Both boys smile at me from Kiba's silver 5-year-old prius. "Make sure to call or email!" Kiba barks as he drives out of my long driveway. I wave at them, knowing this will be the last time I will see them for a year. They both wave, but this causes Kiba not to pay attention, and he nearly drives his car into a Kanzan tree.

I giggle as I hear Kiba yelling at Shino, and Shino probably calmly talking back at him about how bad of a driver he is. Standing on my front porch, I watch them leave before they are out of site. Sighing I think about how wonderful today has been. After ten minutes of driving around deciding on where to go, Kiba said we should go to Fuji Q Highland. We all agreed on that, since we use to go there all the time when we were younger. So we spent three hours going on rides.

I slowly walk inside, taking off my shoes in the hallway. Turning left, I enter the kitchen. The walls are painted red, the ceiling is a gold, and the floor is wooden along with the cupboards in here. I set my brown shaggy stuff dog that Kiba gave me on the counter; along with the giant lollipop that Shino bought me. I smile as I skip to the fridge and pull out leftover chicken ramen for dinner.

"_Father has a meeting till 10 o clock tonight, Neji's over at his friend Lee's house today, and I believe Hanabi said something about being at a sleepover party. I think its Aimi's…so that means I'm going to have dinner by myself."_ I think to myself as I lean against the counter eating my ramen.

Glancing at the clock, it reads 7:00. I finish my ramen and put the bowl in the sink. I open the cupboard to the left of the sink, and grab a bag of microwave popcorn. Placing the popcorn in the microwave, I grab my stuff and jog into the family room. Throwing my stuff on the tan couch that faces the large flat screen T.V., I rush back to the kitchen to retrieve the popcorn.

I grab a bowl, pour the popcorn in it, and then walk back to the family room. I put the popcorn on the coffee table that sits in front of the couch and continue walking towards the T.V. Gracefully, I put the movie Memoirs of a Geisha in, and then plop down on the couch. Pressing play, I snack on my popcorn, ready to enjoy one of my favorite movies.

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I hope you enjoyed this chapter. The next one will be about when she's on a plane for the first time. I'll have to warn you now; tomorrow I will be at my friends cabin for the weekend, and on Sun- Fri I will be at a church camp so I won't be able to update till after that. If I could, I would skip church camp, but my mom is making me go…well, please review!


	4. First Step

Hope

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto.

I have survived church camp! Yeah! Even though I'm very tired I have decided to update. Onto the story!

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Ch. 3 First Step

"I can't believe you're leaving me to fend for myself against these two over protective freaks," Hanabi mumbles to me as we hug for most likely the last time a year. I give her a sad apologetic smile. _"I'm going to miss her a lot…" _I think to myself. Father suddenly clears his throat loudly, interrupting our hug. Hanabi gives me one last smile, and then walks towards Neji who I hugged only minutes before. I turn towards my father as I awkwardly hug myself.

Smiling shyly, I wait for him to speak first. A few seconds go by before he states, "I hope you will enjoy yourself in America. We're going to miss you when you're there." Being completely shocked by what my father has said, I feel my smile grow and a few tears fall.

Then I do something both of us haven't done since my mom died. I hug him. Hesitantly, my father hugs me back. "Thank you for letting me go. I'm going to miss you too," I speak shyly. He ends the hug and nods once. "You better get going now," he commands me. While wiping my tears away I nod. I grab my backpack and walk to the security. Putting my purple Skimmer shoes and backpack in one of the gray bins I continue on threw to the other side. The machine doesn't beep at all, so I grab my stuff.

I turn around to wave at my family on last time. I couldn't help but smile at the sight; Hanabi standing on her tiptoes while waving her hand wildly with a large grin on her face. Next to her Neji has one hand on her shoulder; a small smile rests on his face. Lastly is my father Haishi, who has his hands clasp together in the back, a barely visible smile on his face.

I give them one last wave, then walk towards the first step of the adventure that awaits me; my first time flying on an airplane.

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Shaking. That one word described perfectly what I was doing right now. I am shaking. My whole body is shaking. All because I'm scared to death to be on a plane for the first time. Closing my eyes, I think, _"Okay Hinata, just calm down…count to ten and take deep breathes. One…two…three…four…five…six…sev-"_ "Hello." My eyes shoot open and I give out a yelp of surprise.

"I'm sorry! Did I scare you?" someone asks me. I look to my left to see a guy with jet black hair and coal black eyes. He was wearing a tight black t-shirt, and long jean shorts. He gave me a small smile, waiting for my answer. "No, not really," I lie when my heart beat turns to normal. He laughs at my responds. "It sure looks like it," he comments. I blush, trying to hide my face behind my hair.

I start to fidget with the end of my gray baggy sweatshirt, staring at my lap as I feel his gaze on me. _"I wish I didn't wear these jean shorts…"_ I think to myself. I hear some one sit down next to me on my left, and I dare to look up to see who it was. "It looks like we're going to sit next to each other for the whole plane ride," the same guy from before says with a smile.

I nod once. "I'm Sai," he states friendly with a smile. "Hinata," I reply quietly. He turns his body so that he is facing me. "Nice to meet you Hinata. If you don't mind me asking, I was wondering if this was your first time on an airplane?" he asks curiously. I blush, and then mumble, "Yes. How can you tell?" He smiles kindly at me. "By the way you look nervous and your hands are shaking slightly. But you don't have anything to worry about. I've been on one about five times. It's quite an experience. Though I bet anyone could pass on the food," he whispers the last part to me.

I smile at him and he does the same. "So where are you heading?" " San Francisco, California and from there I'm going to Chicago, Illinois." I reply quietly. Sai stares at me surprise. I look back at him confuse. "I too am going to Chicago. We might be on the same plane again," he states. "I leave two hours after we get there, you?" I ask. Disappointment fills his face. "I leave the next day at five in the morning," he answers.

We both snap our heads up at the sound of something beeping. The seatbelt sign starts flashing and shortly after the pilot's voice fills the plane. **"If I could have your attention please. We are going to be taking of in two minutes. If you all could return to your seats and put your seatbelts on, it would be greatly appreciated. Thank you."**

"Guess it's that time already," Sai mumbles. I watch him as he puts his seatbelt on. Then I do so with mine. Clipping the seatbelt on, I notice that it is way too big on me. I start to panic since I feel the plane move. _"It's way too big! What am I going to do?"_ I look over towards Sai, who is all strapped in. Taking a deep breath, I ask softly, "Um, Sai? Could you um help me tighten um my seatbelt?"

He smiles at me as I blush, and then says, "Sure." He leans over me, grabs the strap and pulls hard on it. I blush even harder at this. Like magic, it fits me snug. I smile at him then say a quick, "Thank you." He smiles back and replies, "No problem. I wouldn't want you to get hurt, especially since I could have prevented that."

"_I'm not sure if I should be touched or crept out…"_ I wonder to myself. "Um, thank you?" I allow out since it seems like he was waiting for an answer. He stares at me for a moment before laughing. "You are very welcome," he declares back with a smile. _"Does he have a smiling issue?"_ I muse to myself.

The plane seems to be increasing speed quickly all of a sudden. I automatically look out the window to my right to see a few trees pass me in a blur. Gripping both armrests, I avert my eyes to the seat in front of me. "Do you want a piece of gum? It helps prevent your ears from popping," Sai informed me. I look at the peppermint flavor gum he holds in his hand. _"I hate peppermint…"_ Though I quickly snatch a piece of gum from his hand anyways. "Thank you," I say quickly. I plop the piece in my mouth and begin to chew rapidly.

It is then when the airplane lifts up into the air. I push my back against my seat as hard as I can as the plane tips upward. Clamping my mouth shut, I hold in the urge to scream. _"Don't think about it. Don't think about it. Don't think about it…"_ repeats on and on in my head. And before I know it, the plane evens out and the pilot's voice fills the plane once again. **"We have safely launched into the air. At this time you may use any electronics or get up from you seat. Thank you."**

I let out a loud sigh of relief. Shortly after, it is followed by the sound of someone laughing to my left. Curious, I look at Sai to see it is he who is laughing. He gives me a smile. "You are truly entertaining to watch when taking off. I can't wait till we land," Sai explains with a smile. "Well, I can wait," I mutter softly. But he hears this, and the laughing starts all over again.

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"_I hate airplanes…"_ I conclude to myself. Munching on my Big Mac, I glance at the clock every so often to make sure I will be on time for my flight. I have finally made it to America. And in one piece too. _"I seriously thought I was going to die when we landed…No wonder Sai thought I was so entertaining. And to think I have one more plane ride…"_ I start to groan at the thought.

I then take out my cell phone and call the number Temari gave me a day ago. The other end rings a couple of times till eventually the answering machine kicks in. "Hello, um this is Hinata, Temari. And I'm just calling to tell you um that my plane is right on um schedule. So I should be at Chicago on um time. Well, I'll see you there." With that, I press the end button and put my phone away.

Taking the last bite of my food, I get up and throw my garbage away. I throw my backpack over my shoulders and go to board the next death trap. _"A.K.A. plane ride."_ I laugh softly at my terrible humor. Squirming threw the crowd of people; I look for my next destination.

Finally, I have reached it. **"2****nd**** class please board. Repeat, 2****nd**** class please board." **The loud speaks notified. I sigh in relief. _"Made it just in time."_ I walk among other 2nd class people, eventually making my way into the plane.

Looking at my ticket, I try to peer past the many heads in front of me, scanning for my seat. Finally, after realizing I was on the wrong side, I make it to my seat. _"Another window seat."_ I think to myself as I look threw it. _"America is truly beautiful." _San Francisco truly looks bright and full of life. There were a lot of clouds in the sky, but it didn't look like it was going to rain.

"Excuse me, but do you mind trading seats?" I snap my head to the left. A man with brown hair in a ponytail, wearing jeans and a green t-shirt was staring at me lazily. "N-No, not at all," I mumble while standing up and switching places with him. "Thank you. It's easier to look at the clouds from here," he says facing the window.

I gaze at him curiously, but avert my gaze. Leaning over to reach my backpack, I take out my new book, The Host. I turn to the first page, prepared to be engulfed by it. "Shikamaru Nara." I look to my right at the guy confused. He sighs. "That's my name," he continues. "Oh, um I'm Hinata Hyuga," I reply respectfully. He raises an eyebrow, but continues to look out the window. _"Wonder what that's all about…"_ I shrug it off though and continue on with my book.

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Yeah I know it's short but I'll try for the next chapter to be longer. So in this chapter she met Sai and Shikamaru, and I will tell you that they will be in the story later on in the future. Now I believe that Gaara is either going to be introduced in the next chapter or the one after that. I still haven't decided yet. Anyways, please review!


	5. Hello New World

Hope

Hope

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto.

Sorry for the long wait! I was kind of busy last week. I would like to tell you now that there won't be a lot of romance in this story for those who are looking for that. But please don't be discouraged to read my story! To prevent confusion, I'm going to make it so that Gaara's personality is much like his after he fights Naruto. Very little swearing by the way (no really; there's only like one word). But anyways, onto the story!

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Ch. 4 Hello New World

I am once again interrupted from my book. _"I know that the plane just landed but I really wanted to finish this chapter…" _Only it is different from the other times I've been interrupted. There is screaming heard in the first class area. A flight attendant wearing a dark blue outfit stands in front of everyone with a forced smile on her face. "There is nothing to worry about. If you would all please stay-" but before she could finish, another person is heard screaming from the first class area.

"What do you mean it's alright?! MY HUSBAND'S DEAD!" My eyes widen as I hear a women shriek those words. The flight attendant laughs nervously before dismissing herself. "Well this is troublesome…" Shikamaru mutters. I stare at him shocked. "I would say it's a bit more than troublesome," I comment shyly. He looks at me, his gaze bored, then sighs. "I should have figured this would happen…" he confesses.

I raise an eyebrow at what he said. "Why is t-that?" I ask quietly. He smirks at me and states, "You'll know soon enough." Still confuse, I hug myself. I flinch when I hear yet another scream. "What on earth is going on?" I whisper to myself. I can feel panic build up in me. "A man just died, and probably not by accident," Shikamaru says as if it were nothing.

I turn my head towards him; the only emotion on my face is horror. He notices this and sighs. While massaging his temples, he says, "Troublesome woman…Look, don't panic. You're not going to die. The man who died had it coming…damn, I think I said to much."

I stare at him confused. _"What does he mean by that?"_ I question to myself. "Look, you'll most likely find out later. Though I really hope not…It's not really something you would want to get involved with. Just trust me on this, okay?" he asks annoyed. I dumbly nod my head. "Well, I've got to go. See you later," he says as he walks past me and to the exit while giving one last wave.

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As I walk through the automatic doors, it seems like my backpack gained ten pounds. I nervously place one hand on the strap of my backpack and let the other fidget with the hem of my sweatshirt. Glancing around, I look for any sign of my new host family; Sabaku. Though sadly I'm not entirely focused. _"Not after what just happened on the plane…I should just forget about that and continue on as if nothing happened."_

But so far I've had no luck in finding Temari in the swarm of people. _"Or the other two if they end up coming…"_ I think to myself. Pushing past a mother with five children, I hear a woman's voice ask, "I wonder where Hinata is? You don't think she's lost? _A moment of silence…_Well you're no help!"

"_That's Temari!"_ I think happily. I weave threw the crowd, finally arriving where I heard Temari speak. A woman with dirty blonde hair pulled back into four ponytails, her teal eyes filled with worry, and is wearing a tight purple t-shirt and a jean skirt, with white flip flops is looking around. "Temari?" I question to her shyly.

She looks at me for a moment before asking, "Hinata?" I nod my head in relief that I found her. She lets out a sigh of relief before smiling brightly. "For a moment there I thought you were lost! But we can talk later in the car. For now let's go get you stuff. Follow me!" she exclaims.

I hear someone sigh from behind her. "She doesn't even bother to introduce us…" I barely hear a male's voice mutter. I peek past Temari to see a guy who looks my age with wild red hair and piercing aquamarine eyes. He is wearing long dark jean shorts with a chain on them and a black Linkin Park t-shirt, black Nikes finishing his dark look. But what really caught my attention was the love tattoo on his forehead. _"Screams bad-boy if you ask me,"_ I caution myself.

Though Temari notices that I'm not listening to her anymore and looks behind her too. I'm brought out of my own little world when she slaps her hand on her forehead. "How could I have forgotten!" she mumbles. "Easy; you do that all the time," the red head states.

I giggle at his reply, but stop when he turns his gaze towards me. I blush out of habit as he continues to look at me. "I'll pretend I didn't hear that," Temari says sweetly. A bit **too** sweetly.

"Okay, Hinata this is Gaara, Gaara this is Hinata. Now that we all know each other, let's go get your suitcase," Temari concludes. _"So this is Gaara…"_ I think as I sneak another peek at him. Gaara averts his gaze, then shoves his hands in his pockets, then walks off. "Come on Hinata!" Temari chirps as she grabs my hand and drags me in the direction Gaara just went.

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"We're about five minutes away from the house. It's a really nice house; four bedrooms, two bathrooms, a kitchen, living room, dinning room, library, and a huge basement. We usually have all our parties down there. The outside of the house isn't too shabby either. In fact, we just repainted it a tan color and fixed the roof too a year ago. Though the backyard isn't that big…but we do have a big old oak tree that's great for climbing in the front yard. But anyways, why don't you tells us about what was popular to do in Japan?" Temari asks, finally finished rambling. _"Not that I mind…I'm a better listener anyways."_ I think.

"Um well, right before I ah came here, me and my two best guy friends went to um Fuji Q Highland, which is a amusement park," I finish. Temari seems rather happy about that. "That's great! Now that I know you like that kind of stuff, then we can go to Six Flags! It's going to be so much fun!" Temari says excited. _"That explains why she was so happy."_ "Do you play any sports?" Gaara asks. I turn my head to the left to see his bored expression still on his face. "Y-yeah, soccer and I do a bit of tennis," I answer.

"That's great! Gaara here plays soccer too! Maybe you too could play one on one sometime at the park hey?" Temari says now way too over excited. "Sure," I respond quietly, while Gaara says the all to familiar 'hn' that I'm use to. _"He kind of reminds me of Neji now that I think of it."_ I conclude in my head. As Temari rambles on and on, I take this time to muster up the courage to start a conversation with Gaara.

Getting a bit closer to him, I notice him staring at me questionly, but I ignore that. I whisper in his ear, "Does she always talk this much?" He gives me an annoying look and mouths 'all the time'. I giggle softly, inwardly smiling that I got him to talk to me. _"He didn't even say anything though, but it counts right?"_ I argue with myself.

"Hey what are you two whispering and giggling about back there?" Temari suddenly asks. "Nothing," I say innocently, while Gaara states clearly annoyed, "I don't giggle." "Whatever you say Gaara, whatever you say. Anyways, we're here!" Temari points out.

Temari parks her silver Volvo in the garage. I open the door on my side and step out onto the gray concrete with my backpack at hand. "Don't worry about your suitcase; Gaara will grab that for you, right Gaara?" Temari says as she leads me to a wooden door that leads into the house. In return Gaara lets out a grunt and grabs my suitcase, following closely behind.

We walk through a blue hallway that also is the laundry room and make our way to what looks like the kitchen. In the room, the walls are painted a plum color, the cupboards are wooden and the floor is marble. _"Very cozy looking,"_ I trail off.

Next we walk into the dinning room, which has the same color walls but light gray carpeting instead. In the middle of the room stood a wooden table that fitted four people. We continued into the living room where a black couch and chair sat facing the flat screen T.V. that was currently on. The carpeting in the room I noticed was a lot softer, but still the same color as the dinning room. The walls are painted a dark teal color, with pictures scattered across them.

Tucking a loose strand of my hair behind my ear, I glance to the right to see what my guess is the front door and the dark gray carpeted stairs next to it. "Who's the chick?" a low male voice asks.

I jump lightly from surprise, and then look at the couch to see a guy who looks only two or three years older then me. I notice that he is wearing a plain black T-shirt and baggy faded jeans. His brown hair is sticking up in every direction, and he has a black stud earring in his left ear. _"Here I thought Gaara was the bad-boy,"_ I joke with myself. He gives me a smirk, as he looks me up and down.

I start to blush feeling uncomfortable. "She's the exchange student," Gaara warns him. I look to my left to see him crossing his arms while glaring at the guy watching T.V. The guy looks disappointed. "Too bad…we'll my name's Kankuro," he says while getting up and extending his arm towards me.

I timidly take it and answer softly, "Hinata." He flashes me another grin then sits back down looking completely relaxed. "I'll show you to your room," Gaara declares before turning around and walking up the stairs. I quickly follow him. Once upstairs, Gaara gives me a quick tour.

"This is the closet. _**Points at the first door to the left**__._ Kankuro's room. _**Points to the first door on the right.**_Temari's. _**Gestures to the next one on the right**__. _Mine, yours. _**He points to his, the farthest to the left, then mine, right next to his.**_ Any questions?" He finishes as he looks at me from the corner of his eyes. "N-no," I mumble while fidgeting with the hem of my sleeve.

"I'm going down stairs. You should unpack. Temari went to the grocery store. She said she would be back in 15 minutes," with that said, I'm left to watch his back as he jogs down stairs. I sigh and turn towards my room. Opening the wooden door, I step inside and take in what will be my new bedroom for the rest of the year.

First thing I notice are the walls; pale blue, while the ceiling is white. The carpet, white with gray specks in it, is as soft as the living room's. By the wall facing directly across from the door lays my new single bed, and on the dark blue blankets rests my suitcase. I place my backpack next to it and sit down on my bed, continuing to look at my room.

A large window with white shades is placed to my left with a small wooden desk under it. To the left wall, I notice has another wooden door. _"My guess it's the closet."_ I think. Next to the door, right by the head of my bed, sits a wooden nightstand with a white alarm-clock/radio/CD player. _"It's nothing like my old room…but I think I can cope with it."_ I compromise to myself.

Standing up, I unzip my suitcase and start to unpack my stuff. After twenty minutes, I finally finish, and shove my empty suitcase and backpack under my bed. But not before taking out my stuffed bunny and hiding it under the covers. I open the window to let some fresh air in the room before leaving and going down stairs.

I'm greeted by the smell of food cooking in the oven. Following my nose, I walk into the kitchen to see Temari busy making a salad. "Can I help?" I ask as I stand behind her. She turns around, and smiles at me. "Well if you really want to you could set the table. We're having pizza tonight! So that means we're only going to need forks since I'm also making a salad," Temari chirps.

Shortly after, groans can be heard in the living room. "Try not to poison us please!" Kankuro shouts over the T.V. I notice Temari silently fuming. Deciding to lighten the mood, I say while shaking my head, "Seems like all men are the same; criticizing women at whatever they do…here I was hoping America wouldn't be the same."

Temari laughs at that, and mood immediately brightens. "You're going to need more than hope for that to happen," she states. We both smile at each other before returning to our jobs. After looking in three drawers, I finally find the silverware and bring that to the table, placing them next to the plates.

"Do we um need any drinks?" I ask politely. Temari responds, "Nah, we'll just grab some soda from the fridge, so take what you like from it." I nod, and walk towards the silver fridge, grabbing the black handle and looking inside for a drink that I like. _"Let's see…Coke, Mountain Dew, Sprite…I think I'll have Sprite,"_ I conclude.

With that thought, I grab a Sprite and sit down in the chair facing the living room. Shortly after, the two guys come in and grab a soda out of the fridge and sit down, Kankuro next to me and Gaara facing me. Temari then joins us, first placing the salad and Ranch dressing on the table, then grabbing the pizza out of the oven and placing it in the middle of the table.

"Don't be a pig Kankuro," Temari demands while putting her oven mitt away and sitting down. "Okay, dig in!" she chirps. With that said, Kankuro and Temari both charge in for the first piece of pepperoni pizza. Gaara sighs while I anime style sweat drop at how something simple as grabbing a piece of pizza becomes World War III. _"This is going to be one interesting year…" _I think to myself as I grab a piece of pizza.

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So far this is my longest chapter. Go me. I think I'll reward myself with some brownie mix…by the way, I'm sorry for any spelling mistakes. They seem very common in my work. Okay so about the part with the man who died, the flight attendants think he died from a heart attack so they decided to let everyone off the plane. But Shikamaru **knows** that it is highly possible that the man died on purpose. The question is why did he know that was going to happen? That will be reveal later on in the story. Please review!


	6. Me vs Her

Hope

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto.

IM SO SORRY THAT IT TOOK ME FOREVER TO UPDATE!! Please forgive me! I would like to say thank you all who have reviewed! It really encourages me to continue on writing. Well enjoy!

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Ch. 5 Me vs. Her

I jerk awake as the song Flat on the Floor by Nickelback fills my room. Sitting up, I rub my eyes to get rid of the sleep. "That's the last time I'm letting Kankuro help me set my alarm…" I grumble to myself. That's when I realized why he set it. _"It's the first day of school!"_ I think nervously. Sighing, I turn off my alarm that reads 6:45.

"_Temari said school starts at 8:00. So if I take a twenty minute shower I should be fine…"_ I calculate in my mind. Grabbing my shower stuff and purple robe, I make my way to the bathroom. I put my shampoo, conditioner, and soap in the shower, shortly after I place my robe on the toilet.

Taking out a clean white towel and putting it on top of my robe, I turn my attention towards the shower, turning the thing on hot. I take off my light purple tank top and black shorts PJs, I climb into the shower. The steaming hot water seems to be exactly what my body needs at the moment.

I've been living with the three siblings for five days now. Five long chaotic days. Temari insisted that we should go shopping on the third day; what I didn't expect was for it to take two and a half hour to buy school supplies. Not to mention when we got home, the boys decided to make me the new head chief while we were gone.

"_All because I made 'the best pancakes they've ever tasted' earlier that morning,"_ I giggle to myself. I couldn't help but laugh louder as I scrubbed my hair with shampoo as I remembered how serious they looked when they told us that. Temari, of course just scolded them saying 'that it's been three days and your already going to tire her out'. But I told her that I didn't mind; cooking has always been a passion of mine.

Finally finished showering, I turn it off and grab my towel, quickly drying off. I put on my robe while grabbing my PJs and turn on the fan. I then quickly brush my teeth. When I finish, I unlock the door (Temari told me to lock it since Kankuro is known for walking in) and peek out in the hallway to see no one. I walk quickly to my room, shutting and locking the door behind me.

I throw my PJs on my bed and turn my attention to my closet. I walk in, grabbing the first thing I see, and quickly change into it. Closing the closet door, I look my self over in the body mirror that hangs on the door.

I am wearing a baggy lavender t-shirt that says in black letters, 'I LOVE MANKIND (it's the people I hate)' on it with light jean shorts that almost reach to my knees. Without realizing it, I smile. _"To think, I already miss you, Tenten."_ I think to myself. For the last six years on my birthday, for a present Tenten would always go and buy me a shirt that said something sarcastic or had a funny saying on it because she knew I would wear it, not wanting to hurt her feelings. And because of that, now I have a collection of those types of t-shirts.

I open the drawer to my nightstand and take out white stud earrings and put them in. When I'm finished with that, I take out my brush and comb threw my now damp hair. I decide to put it up in a loose bun, leaving a few pieces framing my face. I've always loved my hair. It was black, but it has a bluish tint in it, and comes down half way in between my shoulders and elbows.

"_Just like my mom's hair…"_ I think as memories fill my head. But I quickly shake my head to rid of the thoughts. "Hinata! Come and eat breakfast!" Temari orders. I turn away from the mirror and grab my backpack before walking out into the hallway, closing the door behind me. Hurrying into the dinning room, immediately Temari starts to talk to me.

"Ready for the first day of school?" she asks while I grab a red bowl and pour Lucky Charms and milk into it. "Y-yes. I'm a bit nervous though…" I trail off while sitting down, across from Gaara who is eating buttered toast.

Temari grins at me as she joins us at the table, helping herself to a bagel. "Don't worry; you'll do just find. And besides, if you're having troubles you can hang out with Gaara. Right Gaara?" Temari threatens him. He gives an 'hn' as he gets up and puts his plate into the sink.

Gaara lends against the wall, his arms crossed and eyes closed. "I don't want to be a burden to Gaara though," I mumble, but Temari doesn't catch it. "I don't care," he tells me as he walks out to the garage while grabbing his backpack. I stare at his retreating figure. _"I didn't think he heard me…"_ I think.

Finished, I get up at the same time Temari does and we put our dishes in the sink. "You ready to go?" she asks me as she grabs her keys and walks to the garage. I put on my white Etnies and follow her. "Yeah," I answer getting into the car. Temari then turns the car on and starts driving to my new high school; Konoha High.

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Intimidating. That's the first thought I had when I walked through the front door. It wasn't the school itself, but the students that fill the halls. _"At least Gaara hasn't ditched me."_ I think happily as I glance at the guy walking next to me. His red hair is the same as always, messy and sticking up in every direction. He is wearing baggy dark jean shorts that reaches past his knees and has chains on them, and has a dark red tank top on. I also notice the black watch he has on.

I avert my eyes quickly though, not wanting to get caught staring. "We're here," Gaara states as he holds the door open for me. I mumble a thank you before quickly going in, Gaara following closely behind. Walking up the wooden desk in the center of the room, I wait patiently for a woman with black hair behind the desk to finish writing something down. She looks up in surprise to see us here.

"Oh, hello. How may I help you?" she asks kindly while straightening her blue blouse. "Um, I'm new hear and I ah was wondering if I could um get my schedule?" I ask quietly. She smiles sweetly before assuming, "You must be the new foreign exchange student. My name is Shizune. Tsunade is expecting you in her office. It's the door farthest to the right."

"Thank you Shizune," I mumble before knocking on the door she pointed out. "Come in," a woman's voice commands. When I enter the room, I notice that Gaara isn't behind me. Feeling slightly disappointed, I reason with myself, _"Did you really think he was going to be with you 24/7?"_

With that final thought, I look at the woman, Tsunade, in front of me. I notice as she sits behind her desk, her blonde hair in two low ponytails and sharp brown eyes. But what I really noticed is the purple diamond tattoo on her forehead. _"I wonder how many people have tattoos in the school?"_ I think.

"You must be the foreign exchange student, Hinata Hyuga right?" she asks. I nod my head. "It's very nice to meet you Ms. Hyuga. I'm your principle, Tsunade. I have your schedule here," she says as she holds out a piece of paper for me to take. "Thank you. It's very nice to meet you too," I respond shyly. She smiles warmly at me and says, "If there is anything you need, feel free to ask me. You're dismissed."

I quickly walk out of the room, scanning over my schedule.

Homeroom- Kakashi- room 254

1rst- Social Studies- Iruka- room 249

2nd- Math- Asuma- room 260

3rd- English- Kakashi- room 254

4th- Science- Anko- room 247

Lunch B- Lunch room

5th- Cooking- Kurenai- room 266

6th- PE- Gai- Gym

Just as I finish reading, I look up to see Gaara standing by the door. _"He didn't leave!"_ I think cheerfully. "Let me see," Gaara commands. I look at him confused, but then I realize he is talking about the schedule so I hand it to him blushing.

He glances it over once, and then states, "We have every class together except for Homeroom, Social Studies, and Cooking. I'll show you where your homeroom class is." I nod once and follow him out the door and into the hallways filled with students.

We weave past many different groups; preps, skaters, nerds, emos. _"There's a lot more students in this school…but then again, I've never been to a public school…" _I think to myself. "Hey Gaara!" a loud voice calls out. I hear Gaara sigh. Curious, I turn around to see a guy with spiky blonde hair and sky blue eyes, skin nicely tan and is wearing light jean shorts with a bright orange shirt.

His eyes linger on me for a moment, surprise clearly shone on his face as he looks at me. Though shortly after he gave us a big goofy smile. "So who's this Gaara?" he asks while wiggling his eyebrows. Gaara gives him a death glare and replies, "This is Hinata, and she's the foreign exchange student I was talking about earlier."

The guy turns his attention towards me and extends his hand out towards me. "Name's Naruto," he exclaims loudly. I shake his hand and reply, "Um, Hinata. It's ah nice to um meet you Naruto." He grins at me and then looks past me, shouting loudly, "Hey Sakura, Teme!"

"Stop calling me that Dope," A low voice responds from behind me. I turn around to see a guy with black hair and onyx eyes wearing black pants and a tight blue shirt and has rather pale skin. Next to him is a girl with pink hair in a ponytail and bright green eyes wearing a plaid red and black skirt and a white shirt that reads, 'Bite Me' in black letters.

She sighs and mumbles, "What am I going to do with you two?" I giggle and she looks at me with a smile. "I'm Sakura. You must be Gaara's foreign exchange student," she states. I nod and reply, "Hinata, it's nice to meet you." She pokes the black hair boy in the arm and says, "Oi, you going to introduce yourself?"

He sighs, looking a bit annoyed at being bossed around. "Sasuke," he says. I nod with a smile and say back, "Hinata." He stares at me for a moment, but snaps out of it when Naruto starts to bicker with him. "Sakura, since you and Hinata have homeroom together, do you mind walking her there?" Gaara request. Sakura smiles and chirps, "Sure. Come one Hinata, we better be going."

With that said, I am pulled by her towards my new homeroom. "By guys!" she shouts over her shoulder. I look back to see Naruto waving madly while the other two just nod once. Sakura continues to drag me till we reach the classroom.

I look around the room. There are at least 25 wooden desks to my left and to my right there is one large desk, a chalkboard behind it. There already were a couple of students, skaters from the looks of it sitting in the back. Sakura leads us farther in; till we reach the third row in by the window and sit down.

As soon as I put my backpack down (since I don't have a locker yet) Sakura bombs me with questions about my favorites. This continues for three minutes, and there's still no sign of the teacher. "Um Sakura? Where is the um teacher?" I ask her. She blinks twice before smiling and states, "Don't worry, Kakashi usually comes in ten minutes late. So anyway, can I see your schedule?"

I nod and dig through my bag, taking out my schedule and giving it too her. Sakura scans it over, her head tilted to the side, and then says, "Looks like we have sixth, second, and third hour together…" I smile at how quick friend we've became.

The bell rings loudly and more students start to pour in. Shortly after, a man with silver hair wearing a dark blue turtle neck that covers most of his face and tan pants walks in with an orange book in his hand. "Good morning class! Sorry I was late; I was lost on the path of life..." he trails off. He looks at all the students till his eyes land on me.

"I take it you're the new student? I'm Kakashi and I'll be your homeroom and English teacher for the rest of the year. Why don't you stand up and introduce yourself?" Kakashi asks while sitting behind his desk, reading the book.

Taking a deep breath, I stand up and say, "My name um is Hinata Hyuga. And um I am a um foreign exchange student from um Japan." I quickly sit back down, blushing a bit from all the stares I'm getting. Kakashi nods as his eyes are glued to the little orange book of his.

"Alright, you can talk and walk around if you wish till the bell rings," he suggests. I glance at the clock to see how much time we have, but a blonde hair girl in a ponytail with blue eyes is standing in my way. I notice that she is wearing a baby blue halter-top and a white mini skirt. But what really got my attention is the loads of makeup on her face. Inwardly, I make a face of disgust.

She struts towards me, swaying her hips a bit too much, and stops at my desk while putting her hands on her hips. I feel Sakura tense a bit beside me. "Here to steal another one of my friends, Ino-pig?" Sakura asks coldly. I feel shocked because one, Sakura didn't seem like the kind of girl to speak so harshly to someone and two, she called me her friend.

"What ever are you talking about Forehead-girl?" Ino asks in a fake sweet voice. "I'm only here to save the new girl from making the biggest mistake of her life! You probably paid her to sit next to you," Ino states while flipping her hair.

Having enough of the blonde, I decide to speak up. "Sakura didn't pay me to sit next to her," I mumble. Her gaze turns towards me and she smirks. "I see, so Forehead-girl blackmailed you into it. My name is Ino by the way and you don't have to hang out with this loser. There's room over where I'm sitting, and I could introduce you to my friends," Ino says ignoring the glare that Sakura is sending her.

Taking a deep breath, I state in a stern as I could voice, "Sakura did not blackmail me. I chose to sit next to her because she has been nice to me the moment we met. Now **you **have been nothing but mean the moment I met you! So if you could just go back to what you were doing and leave us alone."

While I am panting slightly after what I said, I start to think, _'I did it! I finally stood up for what I believe is right!'_ Ino purses her lips while eyeing the teacher who looked up from his book at the commotion going on. She leans in a bit and growls, "You may think you have won but you're wrong. I'd watch my back from now on if I were you." And with that said she left.

"I can't believe you did that," Sakura says in awe. I turn to see her face brighten and a smile form. "Thanks for standing up for me. She's been that way to me since the fifth grade," a ghost of a smile appears as she says this. I put a comforting hand on her shoulder.

"So um does this um mean um we're friends?" I ask shyly. Sakura smiles at me, and says, "Of course! After all, now we have to watch each other's backs incase Ino-pig will strike! But will show her whose boss hey?" Sakura chirps excitedly. I smile and nod my head in response. _'I have a feeling today won't be so bad…'_ is my last thought before the bell rings. Only later on would I know that I was wrong.

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So there you have a nice long chapter! I wont be able to update for two weeks now since I'm leaving for Minnesota tomorrow to live in the dorms of my mom's school. She's learning to become a pastor and sadly I have to come with her. Well please review!


	7. Authors Note

I'm sorry to say but I've decided to discontinue Hope. Why you may ask? Well I sadly do not have the time to keep up with the story. I know, that's a weak excuse but it's the truth. With school starting very soon, I have to be completely focus on it since I am taking advance classes along with more after school activities, which will leave me no time to update. Yes, I know that other people are able to do it, but I'm not.

Also, I started a story two years ago and I've decided it's time to finish it. My mother has been waiting for me to so she can get it publish to give to some people we know. I'd like to finish it before writing any fanfictions.

I thank you who have reviewed and enjoyed it. Also, if you would like to continue the story or use my ideas for your own story, please contact me about that. I had planed to delete the story after awhile but Druid-Chan changed my mind, so i will keep it up till someone wants to take over or if I by any chance have time. Thank you one last time for reading and reviewing Hope.

-Alex


	8. My Wonderful First Day

Hope

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto (its been a while since I've had to do that)

I back! Miss me? I've decided to continue Hope now since I have more time! I will warn you that I may not update as much as I usually do, but I will still try. I've just joined an advance math class so this may be a bad time to continue Hope…but I feel like I really should finish it. Oh and from now on I'm going to try and use past tense. Well, don't want to keep you waiting! Here it is, Ch. 6!

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Ch. 6 My Wonderful First Day

"So how was Social Studies?" Sakura asked me as we were on our way to Math. Gaara was a couple of feet behind us, and appeared not to be listening to our conversation. I bit my bottom lip as my grip on my backpack tightened. _"I will not cry!"_ chanted in my head.

A look of concern appeared on her face. "What happened?" Sakura asked worried. "Ino," I mumbled softly. A scowl was quickly placed on Sakura's face. I thought I heard a growl coming from behind us, but I figured I just imagined it. "That filthy pig! What did she do to you?" she hissed. I looked down at my feet and begged in a small voice, "Can we um talk um about this ah later?"

Sakura nodded when she heard the tone of my voice. "At lunch, and we'll think of a way to get back at her," she promised. I give her a weak smile as we walked into a classroom. The room has posters up on the walls, unlike the other two rooms, and there were tables instead of desks scattered all around the room with some students occupying them.

Sakura walked towards the second to last table by the window as I approached the teacher. He had black hair along with a beard and brown eyes and was wearing tan pants and a nice thin dark blue sweater. I lingered at his desk for a while, till finally he finished his last paper and looked up at me in surprise.

"You must be Hinata Hyuga correct?" his low voice asked. I nodded once as a reply. "It's nice to meet you. I'm Asuma and I'll be your math teacher. I hope you're enjoying your stay in America," he conversant. "Yes, I um am," I replied politely. "That's good, well you may sit anywhere you want. Class will begin shortly," he said. I nod and walk toward where Sakura was talking with Gaara, who is sitting behind her diagonally.

As I approached them, Sakura looked up at me with a big smile on her face and said, "I saved you a seat by the window." I smiled shyly back at her and mumbled a, "Thanks." She waved her hand as though it was nothing. I barely noticed that I was placed between the wall, Sakura, and Gaara. "So continuing our conversation in homeroom. Do you play any instruments?" she asked while turning her body sideways in her seat. I mimic the action and replied, "Two. Piano and um alto saxophone."

"That so cool! Do you play more jazz pieces with your sax?" she questioned. "Um, I ah only do um a little bit of um jazz," I answered. "I wish I could play the sax. But don't get me wrong, I love playing my guitar!" the pink haired girl stated dreamily. I felt my heart grow a bit heavy. _"She reminds me of Hanabi when she talks about her guitar…"_ I thought sadly.

"Settle down class. I know it's the first day of school but I would like to start teaching now since the bell rang, thank you," Asuma stated. The noise in the classroom died down, and I faced the front. Asuma eyed the class one last time before beginning.

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"You have page 5 numbers 1-20 to do for homework. And I could care less that it's the first day of school! Complain some more and I will add more problems for you to do. You have the last ten minutes of class to get started. I want talking to be at a minimum! Understood?" Anko, the science teacher asked threatening. The class nodded their heads quickly.

I took out my notebook and looked through the questions in the textbook Anko gave us at the beginning of class. Unlike the other teachers, we had assigned seats. Luckily, I had Gaara sitting next to me, making him my lab partner for the rest of the year. Like Math class, we had tables instead of desks. But out of all of my classes so far, this one was the most decorated you could say. It literally felt like you were in a jungle with all the plants in the room. Not to mention the snakes in the far right corner.

"_I'm glad I'm not by the snakes…"_ I thought as I looked back to see who were the lucky people who had to sit next to the snakes. To my joy, it was Ino and Naruto back there. While Naruto seemed to love the snakes, Ino was completely grossed out. _"Serves her right for what happened in Social Studies,"_ I thought.

I turned back to my work and started my homework. This was one of those times I was happy that I had a quiet person sitting next to me, since it helped me concentrate on my work. As soon as I got done with number eight, the bell rang signaling time for lunch or fourth hour for others. I gathered all my stuff and shoved it into my backpack.

Slinging it over my shoulder I looked up to see Gaara waiting for me by the door. I smiled shyly at him and hurry to his side. We walk in silence towards the lunchroom, both in deep thought. _"I guess I'm going to have to come clean about what Ino did…"_ I mentally sighed. As we enter the large room, we join one of the three long lines standing next to each other.

Two minutes of silence pass and we reach the front of the line. Gaara slowed down, letting me go in front of him. I smile, slightly touched, knowing that this is his way of being nice. Taking one of the tan trays, I grabbed a water bottle for a drink. I noticed Gaara mimicking my actions.

Looking at the choices in front of me, I decided on a ham sandwich with fries. Gaara on the other hand took a hamburger and a bag of Doritos. When I reached the lunch lady, I dug in my bag to grab the five-dollar bill Temari gave me for lunch. "I'll pay for it," Gaara's deep voice interrupted my search. I blinked, then blushed as I mumbled, "You don't have to-" "It's fine," he cut in.

He gave the lunch lady his money and started to walk away, one hand in his pocket, the other balancing his tray. I quickly followed him, all the while making sure I didn't trip and fall. I quickly glanced passed him to see Sakura waving us over by a round table in the far back corner by the vending machines.

I waved back slightly as we approached the table. Setting my tray down next to Sakura and Gaara, I looked around the table to see who was sitting with us. Sasuke and Naruto were sitting across the table, along with a chubby guy with spiky long brown hair and brown/black eyes. He was wearing a green t-shirt and jeans. He smiled at me as I stared at him, blushing that I was caught.

"Hi! You must be Hinata. My name is Chouji!" the guy said kindly. I smiled shyly at him and replied softly, "It's um nice to ah meet you um Chouji." He smiled back before digging into his pizza. "Are you ready for another twenty questions?" Sakura teased.

Smiling, I tried to taunt, "Bring it." She laughed at my response before asking, "If you could have a super power, what would it be?" I paused, deep in thought before responding, "It's from a um Japanese manga, but I um would love to um have Byakugan." Sakura nodded her head and added, "I've heard of it before. I think super strength would be cool though. Anyways, so how many family members do you have?"

"Four, including um myself. There's um my younger sister um Hanabi, she ah is 13. Then um there's my cousin Neji um he's 19 and starting his um first year of college with um my best friend um Tenten. Then there's um my father," was the automatic reply I gave her. "What about your mother?" she asked curious.

I flinched slightly before a ghost of a smile appeared on my face. "She left when I was seven," I said quietly. Sakura realized this change and quickly changed the subject, which I was thankful for. "What's your dream car? And do not tell me you don't have one!" she declared. "I haven't really thought about what kind of car I want…but I guess my dream car would be a Toyota Yaris," I concluded. She nodded her head in approval.

It was when Naruto and Sasuke started bickering and Gaara and Chouji were talking about music that she asked the question.

"So Hinata…" Sakura asked. I turn to her and sigh. _"Of course she wouldn't forget…"_ I thought to myself. "It really wasn't to bad…" I started but was interrupted by Sakura. "Just tell me what she did. Trust me, I know that she can be pretty nasty to people."

I nodded to show I understood that she would know more than anyone else. "I choose the um third desk in by the window and I um put my backpack on my um desk. I dropped something so um I reached down um to get it and I um heard my backpack fall um to the ground. I looked up um to see her standing by um the desk behind me smirking, talking to her um friend I assumed. I decided to um ignore it.

"That only made it worse though. She started to um talk loudly about me, making up stuff about um my life and family. I told her to um stop it and she started to um make fun of me some more, only to my face. She said some nasty things, but she stopped when the um teacher came in," I stopped to take a deep breathe, and glanced to see if the boys where listening. Thankfully, they were still talking and bickering amongst each other.

"She's a coward, acting all innocent when an adult is around, but as soon as they turn their backs she goes off again. Annoys the hell out of me. That wasn't the end of it right?" Sakura asked concern.

I nodded before continuing in a very quiet voice, "Her insults kept on getting worse. She even went as far as getting a guy to shoot a spitball at my head. But I ducked and he got the teacher. That's all that happened besides the note she gave me."

I looked at Sakura to see she was deep in thought. "Can I see the note?" she asked. I nodded and dug in my jeans for the note. Taking out the paper, I handed it to her. I watched Sakura as she opened the note then read what Ino wrote. When she finished, she folded it back up and sighed while giving it back to me.

"I guess I shouldn't be surprised at what she wrote. She gave me the same note in fifth grade. I need you to trust me on this. Do not dwell too much on what she wrote. Her plan is to make you so paranoid that you're practically asking her to just get it over and done with," she said coldly.

"Okay…" I said. Sakura sighed then stated, "That's enough depressing stuff for now. Why don't we plan a get together tonight? Like go out to eat or something?" I smile at her as I finish my last French fry and agreed, "When and were?" Sakura giggled and suggested, "How about at 6:00 and at Rhythm Blues. It's a cool jazz café in town."

"Sounds good. Are you going to pick me up?" I asked. She thought about that for a moment, and just before she could reply Sasuke interrupted, "I'll drive." We both stared at Sasuke in shock. "Where you listening to our conversation? Oh well, that means spending less money on gas for me," Sakura said cheerfully. "Hey can I come too?" Naruto asked while bouncy up and down. I giggled while Sakura sighed and said, "Sure, as long as you pay for your portion of the food. And Chouji's for the matter."

Naruto looked like he was going to have a heart attack at that statement. "As much as I'd love to make Naruto broke, I have family business to attend to tonight so I can't come," Chouji joked. I smiled slightly. _"Chouji's a very good friend…" _I thought to myself.

"You can pick us up at 5:45, Uchiha," Gaara said. Sasuke nodded in response. "I'll pick Naruto up at 5, that way we'll be on time," he added. "And you'll pick me up at 6," Sakura chirped as Naruto started to shout in the background. Sasuke 'hn' in response. Just then the bell rang, signaling lunch was over. We picked up our trays and quickly put them on a rack. Chouji said he had to go to the office so we waved him good-bye.

"I'll see you later guys. I have to go to Choir now!" Sakura shouted as she went the other way along with Naruto and Sasuke who both had Industrial Arts. I waved as I followed Gaara who was escorting me to Cooking. "Wait for me afterwards. I'll show you the way to gym," Gaara ordered as he speed up a bit. "Okay…what do you um have now?" I asked as I looked ahead. "Art," was the short reply that I got.

"Here's your class," was all he said before turning around and going the opposite way. I started to feel bad that he might be late for class because of me, but those thoughts vanished when I walked into the classroom. There were a total of ten stations for cooking, two people per station. Each station had a stove, sink, oven, microwave, and cupboards.

In the front of the room was a shelve with many cookbooks in it and a large wooden desk where the teacher sat behind. She looked up and gave me a big smile that matched her looks. She had long curly black hair with a white headband in and piercing red eyes. Her outfit contained a tight fitting red shirt that sleeves ended just before her elbows and a pair of nice jeans.

"First rule of cooking; make sure you're wearing comfortable clothes. The easiest way to get an A in my class is to follow the rules. So far you are passing dear. Hi, I'm Kurenai. I hope you will think of me more as an instructor than a teacher," she said warmly. I couldn't help but smile at this woman. "I'm Hinata Hyuga," I said shyly.

"It's nice to meet you Hinata. Your seat will be the first station on the far left. Your partner I believe will be Chouji Akimichi. Do you happen to know him?" she asked. I smile at my good luck and nod my head. "Yes, yes I do."

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"Let's go," Gaara declared as he walked me to gym. I nod my head, happy that he didn't forget to meet me. _"He was kind of late...oh well, the teacher probably had to talk to him or something,"_ I reasoned. He led me down a flight of stair to the basement, where the gym was. As we walked through the white hallway of the basement, I saw Sakura waving at me in the crowd of students.

I turn around and said, "Thank you," to Gaara before running off towards Sakura who was holding two sets of clothes for us. What I didn't realize was the set of eyes that stared after me as I ran towards Sakura. "Hey Hinata! I got us our gym clothes," Sakura explained as we walked towards the girl locker rooms.

As she handed me my clothes, we picked our lockers next to each other. I quickly changed in to my gym clothes and Sakura did like wise. I then threw my clothes in my locker along with my backpack. "I'd lock your locker. Ino's in our gym class," Sakura advised. I nodded in response and did just that.

"Uh, aren't these outfits hideous?" Sakura questioned. I looked at one of the mirrors on the wall and couldn't help but agree with her. We were wearing shorts that were made out of a stretchy fabric that was an ugly green color and a bit too short for my liking along with a white t-shirt that said the school's name on the upper left hand side of the shirt. The shirts, thankfully, weren't as tight as the shorts.

We walked out of the locker room to see that the guys had it as bad as we did. The only difference was that the shorts were longer. When we walked into the gym, we were greeted by a loud voice. "Yosh! Good evening my youthful students! Are you all ready for a game of football? Because that's what we are playing on this youthful day! Now since I don't have the teams done yet, you can just divide your youthful selves into four groups." What I was looking at was literally a bigger version of Neji's friend Lee. _"This must be his uncle from America that he mentioned…"_ I thought.

The teacher, who I knew was Gai, was wearing a jumpsuit made of the same material as our shorts. "We'll be on the same team along with the guys," Sakura told me as she dragged me towards where Gaara, Naruto, Sasuke and Chouji were standing.

When everyone had a group, Gai announced, "Alright! We'll have Chika's group against Junko's group. Then we'll have Sakura's group against Ino's group. Now go and be youthful!" With that said, we all started to play a game that was suppose to be played for fun, but was now used for revenge.

And boy, that it was.

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So there you have it! I hope you enjoyed reading this chapter as much as I enjoyed writing it. I will for sure update tomorrow, whether it kills me or not I will FORCE myself to sit in front of my computer and type. Well, please leave a review!


	9. Music From the Heart

Hope

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto or any songs used in my story.

As promised, I updated today! And good news! It didn't kill me :D Oh and to answer your question CaiCai-Angel-of-Slaughter, I didn't base the school off of my own…but I did base a little bit of Hinata's life off of my foreign exchange student's when she was here. Another note, the email address I used is totally made up. Oh something that I should clear up on; when I wrote about the set of eyes was staring at her right before gym, I meant **a** set of eyes was staring at her. Sorry about the confusion there.

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Ch. 7 Music From the Heart

"Revenge has never been sweeter!" Sakura exclaimed. I giggled in agreement as I thought back about the many times Sakura tackled Ino, of course with the help of Naruto. The poor boy was infatuated with Sakura and would do anything for her. _"If only she would realize that…"_ I thought.

My thoughts were interrupted when Sakura complimented Gaara, "I absolutely loved it when you chucked the ball at her forehead! It was hilarious!" Gaara just shoved his hands in his pockets and gave a short 'hn' as we continued to walk home.

"It was good timing too, since Ino was about to tackle Hinata," Sakura said while walking backwards in front of Gaara and I. I blushed a bit before nodding in agreement. "Thank you," I said in a soft quiet voice. Gaara nodded his head to show he heard me. I smiled slightly.

"Well, this is my stop. See you guys tonight!" Sakura told us as she waved before crossing the street. Gaara nodded while I waved back. The rest of the walk home was done in silence. _"Not that I minded,"_ I thought to myself as we entered through the garage four minutes later.

Closing the door behind me, I look to see a note on the kitchen table. Taking the white paper in my hands, I read silently to myself.

**Boys & Hinata-**

**I had something important to attend to last minute so I won't be home till about 9. Feel free to help yourself to some leftover chicken and rice in the fridge. Make sure that Hinata makes it or supervises. I really don't feel like buying another new microwave after you boys blew up the last one. See you tonight!**

**-Temari**

I smiled as I reread the note for the third time. _"I'll have to prepare dinner for Kankuro before I leave,"_I thought to myself. I put the note down and quickly went up to my room, giggling as I imagined Gaara and Kankuro blowing up a microwave. As I walked into my room, I could hear music blasting in Gaara's room. _"I'm guessing he's in there," _I joked with myself.

I plopped down on the chair by my desk and took out my homework, which only happened to be the 20 questions for Science. Immediately I start working on it. Thirty minutes later, I finished my homework and put my stuff back into my backpack.

Looking around the room, my eyes land on my alarm clock that reads 4:23 in red letters. _"Now would be a good time to change my alarm song,"_I thought. Walking towards the clock, I sat on my bed and mess with the clock till finally I had it set for My World by Avril Lavigne at 6:45 AM.

Satisfied I lay down on my bed and stared at the ceiling, thinking about my first day. My thoughts drift from all the friends I've made to the note Ino gave me. Sakura's words repeated in my head, about how I should just ignore it. I dig my hands into my pocket where I put the note, to only find it not there.

Panicking, I sat up and checked my other pocket, only to feel the fabric of my jeans. _"Oh no! I can't believe I lost it! Wait, why should I care though? It's just like Sakura said, 'don't dwell too much on it'"_ I reasoned. After calming myself down, I decided to check my email.

Swinging my legs over my bed, I reach under it and grab my white laptop. Opening it, I press the on button. The picture of my friends and me in a tree greets me as always. I stare at the picture for a while as a wave of homesick passes through me. Ignoring it, I click on the Internet, and wait for Yahoo to pop up. When it does, I log in and see that I have 1 new message. I click on it and notice it is from hyuga_soccerplayer14.

**Hey Sis!**

**How's America going for you? Did you settle in yet? So far it's been boring here at home without you. When I asked Neji to dance with me to Shake It like we do he said that he had homework to do and he didn't even have homework! He's yelling at me right now, saying that he did have homework. Whatever I tell you. Anyways, so how's the host family? I hope you aren't as bored there as I am at home. Well, I have to go and eat dinner now, dad's got work people over and you know how that is. Neji and I miss you much! Bye!**

**-Hanabi**

**PS. Your ignoring advice is finally working Hinata! It's driving him insane that I won't play pranks on him! Can't reveal much more since Neji's in the room so I'll update you later on the subject. Bye!**

I smile as I finish reading the email. _"I'm glad that my advice is working for her and Konohamaru. I really do miss them,"_I thought to myself. I immediately replied back, telling them how much I missed them and filling them in on my day, minus the Ino part. I press send then look at the clock to see it's 4:50. Turning off my laptop, I decide to go downstairs and watch T.V.

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I quickly rushed down the stairs and out the door towards the black Dodge Caliber that waited for me. Jumping in the back seat, I mumbled, "Sorry um it took me um awhile." Naruto turned around from the passenger seat and smiled. "It's okay Hinata!" he told me.

"If it makes you feel better, it took Naruto twenty three minutes to get to the car and only two minutes for you," Sasuke stated. I giggled a bit when Naruto and Sasuke started to fight over how long it really took him to get ready. "We're going to be late," Gaara butted it. Sasuke sighed and started to drive to Sakura's house while Naruto started to ramble on about how he was once late picking up Sakura and how she took all his ramen away for a week.

It was when he finished his story that we got to Sakura's house. We only had to wait ten seconds before she came running out of the front door and hopped in the back with Gaara and I. "Tonight's going to be awesome!" exclaimed Sakura as she scooted in, making me sit in the middle.

Immediately Sakura started to tell me all about the café. How they had the best food there and sometimes they would sometimes let customers play with the band, whether it is singing or an instrument. After fifteen minutes of a car ride, we reached a brick building that had large blue letters 'Rhythm & Blues' that light up above the front door. There were two large windows on each side of the door that showed a table for two on each side.

Sasuke parked the car in the small parking lot and we all tumbled out of the car. "Let's go Hinata!" Sakura said while dragging me inside the café. I giggled at her childish behavior. When we walked in, the smell of grilled meat hit my nostrils.

I looked around; taking in all there was to see. The walls were a dark blue color with painting here and there and the floor was a dark type of wood. The lights that hung from the ceiling were dimmed a bit, which really added to the jazzy feeling of the place. There was a bar to the right as soon as you walked in, and there were wooden tables along with metal black chair with purple cushions on them everywhere to the left of bar. In the far back corner was a stage where the music was coming from. A woman wearing a green dress was singing with saxophones and the drums playing in the background.

The café immediately became my favorite place to eat. We passed a sigh that said 'seat yourself' and walked to a table near the stage by the wall. As we were seated, a brown haired man wearing black pants and a purple shirt came up to us with menus in his hands. He gave each of us one while saying, "Hello, I'm Masaru and I'll be your waiter this evening. Can I start you with anything to drink?" he asked.

I looked at the menu while everyone said what he or she wanted. When it came to my turn, I said, "Um, a water is ah fine." He scribbled it down and left us. My gaze returned to my menu, and I decided after a while to get a grilled chicken sandwich with chips. We continued to make small talk around the table, and then ordered our food when Masaru came back.

"All right! Can I have your attention please? We are going to have a round of 'Music From the Heart'! For those of you who are knew here, it's where some lucky two people get picked to sing a song picked out of this box here!" the woman who was singing just before said while holding up a red box. Applause erupted from all around, including a hyper blonde guy sitting to the right of me, earning a glare from Sasuke who was sitting next to him on the left.

Sakura whispered in my ear, "They do this all the time, them two. It's always the same and by now you would think it would get old." I giggled softy at the disappointed look Sakura had while she shook her head and sighed. All of a sudden a bright light started to surf the crowd, till it lingered at our table.

My heart speed up as it landed on Sakura and I, but at the last second it went on Naruto and Sasuke. Clapping was heard as people shouted for them to go on the stage. Naruto gave everyone a big grin and thumbs up which made people cheer louder, and dragged Sasuke up to the stage with him. "Let's go Teme!" Naruto shouted when they were on the stage.

What everyone was looking at was truly a funny sight. Naruto was jumping up and down, ready to pick out of the red box. Sasuke looked like he was going to kill said boy, and his left eye would twitch every now and then. Then there was the woman on the stage that was trying to keep the box away from Naruto. I could help but laugh with Sakura at the sight. Even Gaara cracked a smirk.

"What are you're names?" the woman asked. "I'm Naruto Uzumaki and this is Sasuke Uchiha. Now can I pick?" Naruto asked excited. The woman laughed while flipping her long blonde hair and nodded. Naruto dug his hand into the box, and then slowly took it out to add dramatic effect. He opened the folded piece of paper and quickly read it before giving us all a huge smile.

"The song we're going to sing is…Don't Cha by the Pussy Cat Dolls!" Naruto yelled. Sasuke looked at the guy with horror. Every started to laugh and clap along with the beat as the music started to play. The woman left and Naruto stood in the center of the stage with Sasuke and started to sway his hips side to side while putting an arm around Sasuke's shoulders.

Sasuke glared at Naruto, and if possible, he glared harder when Naruto would bump hips with him, making it look as if he were doing it too. The song started and Naruto took the mike. He put it in between him and Sasuke and began to sing.

"I know you like me, I know you do.

That's why whenever I come around she's all over you."

"Sing with me Sasuke!" Naruto said before having to sing again. Sasuke looked like he was going to bit off Naruto's head. But Naruto just continued to sing, ignoring the glare and look he was getting.

"And I know you want it. It's easy to see.

And in the back of your mind you know you should be on with me."

"Sasuke you better sing with me our I will me or I will tell everyone here that you are in love with-" Naruto was suddenly cut off by Sasuke singing the chorus.

"Don't cha wish your girlfriend was hot like me?

Don't cha wish you girlfriend was a freak like me?

Don't cha? Don't cha?"

By then everyone was laughing. It sounded like Sasuke was talking more than singing, but Naruto's loud voice evened it out. _"I wonder what Naruto was going to say that made Sasuke sing?"_I wondered. Before we knew it, the song was over, and everyone was chapping. Naruto bowed, which made Sasuke bow too because of there position. He quickly gave back the mike to the woman, and then ran back to his seat to avoid the raft of Sasuke Uchiha.

Naruto sat down with a grin on his face, followed by Sasuke who looked furious. "I will kill you Naruto Uzumaki if it's the last thing I do," Sasuke growled. Naruto gave a weak laugh, knowing that Sasuke probably would try. As we ate our food, the conversation was all about Naruto and Sasuke's performance.

"_This has to be the most interesting day of my life,"_I thought to myself as I took the last bite of my sandwich.

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There you have it! I hope you enjoyed this chapter, as I for sure have enjoyed writing it. I probably wont update till late next week, but I guess we'll just have to wait and see! Review please!


	10. One on One

Hope

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto

Sorry I didn't update for a while. My life's pretty busy at the moment. The story is probably about halfway done, incase you're wondering about that. I'll try making longer chapters in return for the long wait. Enjoy!

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Ch. 8 One on One

"Hinata! Could you please read next since someone wasn't paying attention, which by the way Ken, you just earned yourself a golden ticket," Anko shouted. I snapped out of my daydream and skimmed quickly at my textbook, trying to figure out where we are. Blushing in embarrassment as the seconds ticked by, I waited for Anko to yell at me too for not paying attention and give me a 'golden ticket', which really was a detention.

"Page 46 last paragraph," Gaara muttered under his breath. I looked at him confused, but he just stared at the chalkboard. "Hinata?" Anko snapped. Blushing as I finally understood what he meant, I read the paragraph. When I finished, I peeked a glance at Anko who seemed satisfied that someone was paying attention in her class. "Thank you," I mumbled under my breath, still blushing.

Gaara nodded, his way of saying 'your welcome'. The bell finally rang, and for once Anko didn't assign the class homework. I followed Gaara out of the classroom as we walked to the lunchroom in a comfortable silence.

It's been a month since I moved in with the Sabaku's. Ever since the day at 'Rhythm & Blues' I became part of their group. Every Friday we would go there, and as I was told, it was a tradition for the group. A tradition that I was glad I was apart of. But that wasn't the only thing going on in my life.

Some time during this month, I realized that I had formed a crush on Gaara. I wasn't sure when or how it happened, it just did. The only person who knows my secret is my sister, Hanabi. Even if I didn't mean to tell her and it kind of slipped out when I was talking to her on the phone a week ago.

"Are you getting anything?" I snapped out of my thoughts and looked up at Gaara, who stared back bored. Blushing, I nodded and grabbed the first thing I saw, which was a chicken patty with rice. He already had a turkey wrap on his tray along with a Sprite. We quickly paid for our food and headed over toward the group.

We sat down in our usual spot, Sakura to my left and Gaara to my right. I started to pick at my food, trying not to think of the guy sitting next to me. Taking a bite out of my patty, the first thing I realized was that I didn't take a regular one, but a spicy one. The next thing I realized was that I forgot to buy a drink, as my throat started to burn slightly.

"Here," Gaara said as he shoved his Sprite in front of my face, as though he knew that I didn't like my patty spicy. Blushing, I grabbed the drink and gulped some down, till my throat stopped burning. "Thanks," I squeaked out as I handed it back to him. He nodded while staring across the room, glaring at something. I didn't get the chance to see what or who since Sakura started to talk to me.

"Hey Hinata I just realized that you don't have Halloween in Japan! We should so go trick or treating this year!" Sakura smiled brightly as she said this. "Aren't we a bit too old for trick or treating?" Sasuke asked clearly annoyed at the idea. Sakura glared at him and responded, "Hinata has never been trick or treating and I want to make sure that she has the best time here! SO WE'RE GOING TRICK OR TREAT WEITHER YOU LIKE IT OR NOT!"

The table was dead silent after her outburst, along with the tables next to ours. This silence was interrupted though when Naruto stated, "I call being a cup of ramen for Halloween!" I couldn't help but smile at this. Sakura gave a big grin at Naruto and started to encourage him, even if his choice was odd. "I guess I could go as a teddy bear," Chouji added as he joined they're conversation. Sakura immediately agreed with him.

Sasuke sighed in defeat, knowing that he couldn't win against Sakura now that everyone was agreeing, and grumbled, "I'll go as long as I don't have to dress up." Sakura smirked at him and taunted, "We'll see. Anyways, this means we'll have to go shopping, hey Hinata? Are you busy Friday?"

"Um, I don't ah think so. Unless Temari has um something planned," I mumbled. I looked at Gaara, who shook his head, and then turned back to Sakura. "I guess I can go and buy a costume with you." We finished our food just then and Sakura added, "Okay so in two days we'll go to the mall and find the perfect costume for you."

We dumped our trays as the bell rang. I started to walk with Chouji to Cooking; half listening as he talked about some cooking show he really enjoyed watching.

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Just as I shut and locked my locker, I heard a, 'Ready?' from behind me. Throwing my backpack over my shoulder, I answered Gaara blushing, "Yeah. Um are we ah playing today?" We headed for the door, knowing that Sakura won't be joining us since she has to work on a project with Naruto.

As soon as we were outside, I glanced at Gaara, who nodded, making his long spiky red hair bounce slightly. The walk home as usual was silent only it was comfortable instead of awkward. It also followed with a lot of glancing at each other, and blushing on my part.

We entered through the garage ten minutes later. I waited for Gaara to open the door and walk in, but instead he held the door open for me. Startled a bit by his actions, I mumbled a 'thank you' and after the 'hn' I got in return, Gaara followed behind me.

I set my backpack on the family room couch, Gaara doing the same. Walking into the kitchen, I grabbed two water bottles while Gaara went up stairs. Fixing my hair into a ponytail, I heard Gaara's footsteps coming towards me. Looking up, there he was holding a soccer ball in his hands.

"Let's go," was his short command. I nodded my head and followed him outside. We walked to the closest park that was two blocks down the street. The whole time I focused on the soft sound of my footsteps against the concrete along with Gaara's louder ones. I stared out into space, not focusing on anything, just listening. _'So peaceful…'_ my thoughts were.

Finally we reached the park. I took a good look around. To the right was a playground that consisted of a slide, swings, and a sandbox. Gaara though was heading the opposite way, were the soccer field was along with a couple of wooden benches to the side.

I set the water bottles down on one of the benches before jogging toward Gaara who was in the middle of the field. He was repeatedly kicking the ball up in the air with the inside of his foot. When he saw me approach though, he stopped and put the ball on the ground.

I took my place facing him with the ball in between us. "Twenty-five minute quarter?" he inquired me. Nodding, I put on a determined face. "Three, two, one," Gaara spoke just loud enough for me to hear him. I shot forward then, my eyes only on the ball, knowing Gaara was doing the same. By some miracle, I got the ball first. I darted around him, silently praising myself since it's always him who gets to play offense first. Because of that, I missed the small smile that appeared on his face.

Two hours later, we were still at it, Gaara winning twelve to ten. _'That's probably the closest game we've played,' _I thought. Panting hard, I called out, "I need a break!" Gaara, who was also having difficult breathing, nodded his head in agreement. We headed for the bench, and I chugged the last of my water down. The cold liquid felt good on my throat.

"_**Cut my life into pieces, this is my last resort. Suffocation, no breathing. Don't give a**_- Hello?" Gaara said as he answered his cell phone. I couldn't help put smile a little at his ring tone. _'It matches his personality…' _I thought. I sat down on the bench and waited for him to finish.

He flipped his red phone shut, then turned to me. "Temari wants us home. Apparently we're having a guest over in twenty minutes," he told me as he picked up the soccer ball. I nodded, too tired to talk. I took both water bottles as we headed back.

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"Kankuro, grab the door!" Temari shouted from the kitchen where she was finishing up the ribs at him as the doorbell rang. I winced slightly at this since I was standing next to her making the salad for tonight. I couldn't help but notice that she was rather dressed up. She was wearing a nice pair of jeans and a black and gray striped long sleeved shirt along with lip-gloss and dangly silver earrings. Her hair was up in a neat bun, which I'd only seen once before when she had an important business meeting. I looked down at my outfit, which was baggy black guy shorts, and a yellow shirt that had a smiley face on it.

I heard Kankuro and a man's voice in the front hallway come closer towards us. Placing the salad on the table that Gaara had just set and said person was now sitting down in his spot, I looked up to greet our guest. "Hello I'm Hinata…" my voice trailed off as I stared shocked at who was in front of me.

"I take it you remember me, so we can skip those troublesome introductions," Shikamaru said bored. I merely nodded dumbly, still shocked that he was here, the same man from the plane. I started to feel a bit light headed from remembering the incident.

Smiling politely as soon as I snapped out of my dumb look, I sat down across form Gaara. Temari set the ribs on the table along with the rice before giving Shikamaru a peck on the cheek. "Let's all sit down and eat," she said cheerfully. "One step ahead of you. I'd never miss Hinata's cooking!" Kankuro exclaimed from his spot next to me.

I blushed at the compliment, noticing that Gaara was agreeing by smirking. Shikamaru raised an eyebrow before sitting down next to Temari and Gaara. Little did I know that he was questioning Gaara's smirk, not my cooking ability.

Dinner went by quick, since it seemed like the guys were extremely hungry. I helped Temari clear the table as the guys went into the family room. Since there weren't any leftovers, all I needed to do was put the dishes in the dishwasher. "So, you've met Shikamaru before?" Temari asked casually.

I stiffened before answering softly, "Yes. I um sat next to him um on the airplane." Her eyes widened a bit in shock but she made her face blank, hiding what looked like fear from what I could tell in the seconds it happened. "Hmmm, Shikamaru never mentioned that you were on his plane before…" Temari said harshly.

"Maybe he um didn't know ah that I'm your um foreign exchange student at the ah time," I mumbled nervously. She closed her eyes as she nodded in agreement. "You're right. Other wise he would have told me," she stated with a hint of annoyance in her voice. "I'll finish up the dishes. You can go and watch TV with the guys," she spoke suddenly while putting two plates into the dishwasher.

"I actually um have to ah do homework now that I um think about it," I said while putting the BBQ sauce in the fridge and walked upstairs to my room, completely forgetting to grab my backpack. Shutting the door behind me, I sighed as I sank to the floor. A wave of homesickness suddenly hit me as I hugged my knees against my chest. Resting my forehead against my knees, tears then started to slowly make their way down my face.

I sat there crying for twenty minutes. Rubbing my eyes I stood up clumsily and grabbed my laptop. I plopped down on my soft bed and took deep breaths to calm me down. I started to bite my lip as I turned on the laptop. The familiar picture of my friends and myself appeared before my eyes. Double clicking on the Internet, I tapped my index finger against the j key impatiently.

My screen turned white as the page loaded before finally Yahoo popped up. I clicked on my mail, then inbox to find I had one new message. It was from my sister. My heart skipped a beat as I felt the same pang of homesickness as before. Her message appeared and I quickly read it to myself.

_**Hey Hinata!**_

_**It feels like FOREVER since you've left! I miss you soooo much! When do you come home again? Anyways, so how have you been lately? Having any fun in America? Well it sure isn't as fun here without you around. It really stinks not having any other girl around in the house. For the whole Konohamaru thing…he's been avoiding me lately. Is that a good or bad thing? I mean I've been doing what you've said and am staying true to myself but he's been acting really strange lately. Your input on that would be really helpful. Anyways, Kiba and Shino say hi and that they miss you too. Neji misses you so much that he wants you home but he won't admit it. (Don't tell him I said that. He'd hurt me lol) Well I have to go now. **_

Love you lots! –Hanabi

When I finished rereading it (an old habit of mine) I couldn't help but smile. I clicked on reply and started emailing her back.

_**Hi Hanabi,**_

_**It's good to hear from you! It makes me happy that you are well and having fun. I'll be home June 17, which is about eight months I think. Things are going well over here for me. I've made a few new friends and am pretty close to the host family. Gaara, he's the youngest brother and my age, plays soccer with me all the time. He's just as good as Neji if you can believe that! **_

_**America is very fun (it be more fun if you where here). Halloween is coming up and my group of friends is taking me trick or treating. Also I'm going to go to an amusement park called Six Flags in a few weeks. That should be fun! About the Konohamaru thing, I think that you should just give him some time so he can think things threw. Just be patient. Tell Kiba and Shino that I can't wait to see them again. And the same for Neji only tell him that I would like to finish up the year. :D got to go! **_

_**Love Hinata**_

I hit the send button then turned off my laptop. I looked at the clock to see it was eight. I went downstairs, thinking about how I was going to watch a movie but fate had a different idea.

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I feel like a terrible person for leaving a cliffhanger! Oh well, the just means I'll have to update sooner. Please review and tell me what you think. Again, I'm sorry for the late update. 


	11. A Troubled Past

Hope

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto.

Sorry for the late update. It got a bit hectic with school ending and I was behind with my school stuff. Since it's summer though I should be able to update frequently. Enjoy!

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Ch. 9

I was about to go down the stairs when I heard Temari arguing with someone. _"What did Kankuro do now?" _I thought with a sigh. But as I got to the third step down, I noticed that the other voice was not Kankuro but Shikamaru. I thought about turning around and heading straight to my room since it wasn't my business, but curiosity got the better of me. I sat down on the stairs so that they couldn't see me.

"I can't believe you didn't tell me! Don't you dare defend yourself! You knew who she was, yet you still acted like nothing happened!" Temari snapped at him. I heard Shikamaru sigh loudly and he replied, "I didn't think it was important. And besides, I was on a mission and you know the rules Honey."

"Don't you dare Honey me! That's not going to work this time! I mean Hinata could have been in danger! Do you realize that? What if the Akatsuki took her away? Have you ever thought about that?" Temari hissed.

I could picture Shikamaru sitting in a chair massaging his temples as he grumbled something. Whatever he said made Temari angrier than she was before, if that was possible. She was completely silent, which was more frightening than her yelling. Then she spoke in a calm deadly voice.

"I realize that your job is dangerous to a point were if you would tell me information I could get killed. But I believe I have a right to know if my family is in danger. I do not want the same thing that happened to Gaara happen to her. We were lucky that he survived after what they did to him. I'm positive that Hinata wouldn't be strong enough to go through that. And I don't know about you, but I don't want to tell her father, who is an important businessman from Japan, that his daughter was tortured and then killed."

I sat there shocked as I pieced together what I just heard. My imagination went wild; think of gruesome ways I could have died if I was captured on that plane. I clutched my head, trying to take deep breathes and control my heart rate. I tried to focus on what else they were saying.

"Are they near here at all?" Temari asked in a quiet voice. There was a pause before Shikamaru answered, "No. They were spotted near Florida four days ago. If they were up here I'd recommend keeping her by Gaara all the time. I don't think that will be much of a problem anyways, since he seems to have formed a connection with her."

Temari laughed lightly. "You noticed it too huh? I think having her here really is helping him. He's starting to sleep more at night. Once he slept for a full five hours. Not only that but from what I heard from Sasuke is that he's always watching her at school. It's good to know that…" I decided that I heard enough and headed back to my room quietly. That's when I saw him standing there and his aquamarine eyes staring at me.

He knew that I heard everything that they said. I tried staring back at him, but eventually I lost my nerve and looked down at the floor. That's when the whole conversation came back to me. _"Gaara was…tortured." _ I wanted then to go and comfort him, tell him it was all going to be okay, but I stopped myself. I lifted my head and our eyes met.

I've never seen so much emotion in his eyes before. There was fear, hate, pain, sadness, and loneliness. It was then when I wouldn't have been able to stop myself no matter what. I walked up to him and hugged him. Standing on my tiptoes, I wrapped my arms around his neck and started to rub his upper back. He stiffened at the contact, clearly not expecting that, but then slowly he returned my hug and wrapped him arms around my stomach. He clung to me like a lost child would to his mother.

He rested his head on my shoulder for a while before guiding us to his room slowly. He opened the door and shrunk to the floor, with me following since he wouldn't let go, and we just sat there in silence, just hearing each other breath. I knew that normally I would have been afraid or embarrassed being in a guys room, but I knew that he need me at the moment. So I continued to rub his back. The talking down stairs soon stopped completely and I heard someone walking up the stairs as I drifted off into deep sleep.

Barely awake, I heard the door open and Gaara moved his head off my shoulder to look at the intruder. "She heard," he whispered as he held me tighter. There was a sigh, which then I knew it was Temari, before the door closed and Gaara put his head back on my shoulder.

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I slowly woke up from a terrifying dream I just had. In the dream, I was walking through a forest, looking for something. It was dark and chilly out, the trees around me standing tall. There was something peaceful about the place, even with the dark look the forest had. I continued to walk until I came into a clearing that had a large lake. There was something mystical about the lake, the way it shined against the moonlight. And that's when I saw him, the something I was looking for, or rather someone.

Gaara was standing in the middle of the lake, looking at the moon. Not even wondering how he was standing on water, I called out his name. He slowly turned his head towards me and just stared at me with hopeful eyes. It was like he was pleading for me to help him, to save him. I stared back, shocked at what I saw in his eyes. The emotion changed quickly, turning into fear.

Confused, I took a step forward, my bare feet now touching the cool water. "Gaara, what's wrong?" I called out. He took a step towards me, then another. It was then he fell into the water. In slow motion I saw him fall straight down, panic expressed clearly on his face, as he reached his arm out for me.

Shocked, I stared at him for a while before realizing that he was drowning.

Without thinking, I ran in the lake towards Gaara, looking into his fearful and hopeful eyes. When I couldn't touch the bottom anymore, I started to swim towards him. Though it seemed like no matter how fast I swam, I was still nowhere near him. And it scared me, as I looked into his eyes.

After what felt like hours, I started to realize that he was struggling more violently than before, as though something was pulling him down. I pushed forward with all my strength, but I still was nowhere near him. It was as though those last hours got me nowhere. That's when I saw his head starting to go under. My eyes mirrored his as panic started to set in.

His head went down once, then back up. Then twice and back up. "GAARA!" I screamed as I reached out for him. It was then he went down for a third time, only this time he didn't come back up. "GAARA!" I wailed. I suddenly felt exhausted as I just stared at the place he just drowned. Tears poured down my face as I tore my gaze away and looked behind me towards the shore. Only when I looked back, all I saw was water for miles all around me.

Panicking, I wildly looked around me, struggling to stay above the water. Just as I calmed myself down enough to think things through and hopefully form a plan, I felt something nudge my foot. Shaking all over, I started to wonder if I too was going to drown. I didn't have to think long because a hand grabbed my foot, dragging me down into the dark water.

It was then I woke up. I blinked a couple of times, looking around me. _"This isn't my room…" _I thought as I took in the site before me. The walls were a dark red color, the carpet a soothing white and the bed and curtains were black. But what really got my attention were all the drawings and paintings on the walls. From the looks of it, most were of animals or landscapes, but there were also quite a few of people. There were at least twenty pictures per wall.

As my eyes observed each picture, I couldn't help but study the one above the bed. It was of a girl who looked about eighteen, with beautiful black hair that had a tint of blue in it. Her face was flushed and she was smiling shyly. By the looks of it, she was cooking pancakes on a counter, one hand resting on the counter and the other holding a spatula. She was wearing a red apron over her yellow shirt. Her eyes are what got my attention though. They held so much happiness and joy in them. But what really surprised me was the color. They were lavender.

"You're awake," a familiar voice stated. I jumped, only to feel arms tighten their hold on me. I looked up to see Gaara staring at the same picture I was just looking at. "I hope you don't mind that I drew you," he spoke softly to me. Blushing I stuttered, "N-no-o, it-t's ok-k-kay." A silence soon filled in before I spoke up quietly, "It's really-y beautiful d-drawing…I n-never knew you w-were that good."

He smirked before remarking, "So you thought I was a bad artist?" Shocked, I quickly replied, "No! N-not at a-all! It's j-just I didn't know you w-were this good." He was silent for a while before saying, "Not many people know. We should head down stairs. They're waiting for us."

Nodding I attempted to get out of his lap while blushing in embarrassment. _"I can't believe what happened last night…" _I thought while heading out the room, glancing back once at the painting. We headed down stairs, as I took in the smell of eggs and burnt bacon. "Why couldn't you have just waited for Hinata to wake up?" Kankuro complained as we sat down in our spots at the table.

As Kankuro said this, he turned to wink at me and I blushed in return. Then he turned to Gaara and gave him a big grin along with a thumbs up. Gaara glared in return while crossing his arms. Shikamaru sighed at the exchange while muttering, "Troublesome boys."

"Foods done! It's good to see you two up. I was starting to wonder if I would have to send Shikamaru up to wake you to up," Temari chirped. Shikamaru rolled his eyes as Temari set the eggs and bacon on the table. "See! You burnt the bacon! If you would have only waited ten minutes, Hinata could have made-" Kankuro was cut off as Temari whacked him on the head with the spatula.

"One more food insult and I swear I'll shove this spatula down your throat!" Temari threatened before sitting down. Kankuro was silent as he served himself, knowing his sister would attempt to do said threat. I couldn't help but smile a bit. _"Some things never change," _I thought as I ate.

Finishing up my food, I walked over to the sink to put my plate away. "Hinata, when you're done would you sit back down please? There's something we have to tell you," Temari said quietly. "S-sure," I replied, having an idea what the talk is going to be about. Just as Temari said this, Kankuro went into the family room to watch TV. I sat back down in my seat as Temari moved to Kankuro's seat so she would be facing me instead of sitting next to me.

It was silent as Temari closed her eyes, thinking, while Gaara and Shikamaru stared at each other. "I'm not sure how to really put this…so I'm going to be blunt Hinata. We know that you over heard us talking about the Akatsuki and Gaara's…past. So Shikamaru and I have decided to inform you the rest since it only seems fair," Temari began. I sat there looking at the middle of the table while nodding. Out of the corner on my eye, I saw Gaara shift, as though he was preparing himself.

"I'll start by telling you about the Akatsuki," Shikamaru spoke up. "They are a group of terrorist from all parts of the world. There goal is to gain enough power to over throw our government and take control of the United States," he paused to let this sink in.

"We do not know much about them or the members besides the names of the people who are in charge. One of them is Itachi Uchiha, Sasuke's older brother. Because of that, he is the only one we really have information on, which still isn't much since he wasn't really that open about himself. The other's you would not know so I won't bother to tell you their names. Now, we do not however know the mastermind behind it all.

"To put it simply what they do is they assassinate important political people along with torturing your average citizen then murdering them so that we are reminded that no one is safe. Remember the plane ride? That man that died was an important business man, who's name I won't bother to say, and we have repeatedly told him to have a low profile for awhile since we had reason to believe that he was being targeting. Though he wouldn't listen and as a result he was poisoned. And before you ask, yes, I do work for the government, but for your safety I cannot tell you anything else."

I sat there trying to absorb all this. Slowly it was all starting to make sense to me, except one thing. "Why was Gaara…" I started unable to say that word. To my surprise, it was Gaara who answered the question. "It was like Shikamaru said, a reminder that we should fear them. I was one of the two out of fifteen who survived. The other one was…Naruto," he whispered.

Completely astonished, I placed my hand over his, hoping to comfort him in some way. _"I would have never guessed that that happened to Naruto," _I thought. "He was one of the reasons why we never gave up too. He was so determined that we were going to make it, even when we reached the third month," Gaara trailed off squeezing my hand.

"He had so much hope, that I couldn't help but feel that way. So we took the torture head on, in a way telling them that they don't scare us. We could tell that we surprised them by how long we survived. They weren't use to people not giving up. I would always stay up at night to be on watch, even when it was Naruto's turn. It was a week into the third month when we were rescued. It was Shikamaru who found us…" Gaara was silent after that, but didn't let go of my hand.

"Is t-that why you s-still don't sleep? You're afraid t-that they'll come b-back? Or is it the n-nightmares?" I asked quietly, remembering what Temari said last night. He was quiet, and then answered, "I'm afraid that they will take people close to me away and leave me with no one." I could tell by the way Temari sucked in her breath that she didn't know the really reason why he doesn't sleep at night.

There was a defining silence in the air, making me look at my lap. All that was heard was the TV in the other room and the soft breathing of everyone. Temari gulped once before she licked her lips and spoke, "Well, now you know the truth Hinata. I understand if you wish to leave." She was cut off by Gaara's strong voice, "She's not leaving." Surprised by his outburst, I looked up to see Gaara and Temari stare each other down.

"I understand that you've formed a close relationship with Hinata," I blushed at what Temari said, "But you need to understand that it's her life and if she does not feel safe here she can certainly go home. Understood?" He glared, clearly not happy that he wasn't in control of things. "Um Temari?" I asked quietly. All heads turned to look at me.

"If y-you d-don't mind, I w-would like t-to stay," I finished softly with a small smile to show I was sincere. Temari smiled back at me, relief shown on her face. "Then it's settled. Hinata is staying," Temari stated. If I wasn't sure about my answer then, I was when I felt a hand grab mine. I didn't have to look up to know it was Gaara who grabbed it.

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I'm rather please with this chapter. I hope a lot of questions from previous chapters were answered in this one and if not here is a short summary. Shikamaru works for the government and his job is to find the Akatsuki's hostages and their hideouts. He also was supposed to be secretly following the man who died on the airplane, but couldn't do much since he was poisoned. Also, whenever I wrote about someone staring at Hinata at school, I was talking about Gaara incase you didn't get that. That's all I can think of right now. So I hope you enjoyed the chapter and please review!


	12. AUTHOR NOTE

AUTHORS NOTE:

I'm sorry to say but I've decided to discontinue my story Hope. The reason is simple; I've lost my inspiration for the story. I'm very sorry to all my readers, but if I continue I don't think I would be able to 'put some feeling' into my work. I think it would just be better to not continue it than write a boring story. Though I would like to thank all of you who have took the time to read and review my story. I really do appreciate it, and to show my appreciation, I will tell you how I was planning to end the story (I just didn't now really how to get there).

How It Would Have Ended:

Some time after Thanksgiving, the Akatsuki would have kidnapped Gaara again. For five days they would have tortured him and telling the police that they wouldn't give him up unless they handed over Hinata. They wanted Hinata because she is the daughter of an important businessman, which meant that they could get a lot of money off of her. Though Gaara managed to escape thanks to Shikamaru.

Two days after Christmas Hinata would have gotten a call from her father about how Hanabi is dying of some time of disease. She decides on going to see her sister, even though that means leaving Gaara. So she goes back to Japan. Six months later, her sister dies from the disease and Hinata is completely devastated. Because of that, she refuses to leave Japan, even to visit Gaara, since she doesn't want to leave home, afraid that her dad or Neji might die next.

Then the epilogue would have been three years later, about how Gaara went to Japan to be with Hinata and how she's just getting over her sister's death. So yeah that was the direction I was thinking about going in. But like I said again, I just don't have the interest to finish it. Thank you one last time for reading and review my story, Hope.

-Alex


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